BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
Coach Rolando Garza has been coaching at San Isidro since 1992.
In his 27th year, the San Isidro native has what he described as a “Top 5” team of all time at San Isidro.
Led by the Valley’s third-leading scorer Genardo Elizondo and a group of six seniors who have been playing together for years, the Tigers are off to an impressive start on the district season.
On Tuesday, San Isidro beat Lasara 81-49, giving Garza his 600th win.
“At halftime we had an 8 point lead,” Garza said. “After the half, we made some adjustments, started playing our game and got into a rhythm. We had a good second half to close out the game.”
Garza was honored to cross the 600 mark, but he wanted to give the credit to his guys.
“Thank you to all of my former players, and to the people who have supported us,” Garza said.
San Isidro is currently ranked 14th in Class 2A, according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.
The Tigers’ ranking is up, now that San Isidro is 4-0 through the first half of District 32-2A play. That includes a huge win over rival San Perlita.
“That has been a rivalry game since I was in school,” Garza said. “Credit to our guys, they found a way to dig deep and pull that one out at the end. San Perlita has more depth than we do, and I was worried the pace would have our guys too tired at the end. We work hard to stay conditioned, and we got it done.”
Coming into the game, San Perlita was ranked 12, and San Isidro was ranked 23. The Tigers prevailed, 78-72.
Coach Garza has been to the Sweet Sixteen three times with San Isidro. The feeling around the school and the community is that this could be the fourth.
“If our guys play our game, and play defense the way I know we can, I think we will be ok,” Garza said. “But it’s hard to say anything, because we are in such a tough district. We just take it game-by-game and try to get better as we go.”