By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Porter and Lopez square off in another Battle of Southmost, and Pace will try to regroup in a doubleheader Saturday.
The Cowboys and Lobos renew their rivalry at 1 p.m., and the Vikings look to get on track against Sharyland Pioneer in the nightcap at 7 p.m. in Week 2 at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Porter and Lopez kick off the day with a game that closer resembles neighborhood bragging rights.
“This is a game that the kids really enjoy and I believe the community enjoys,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “A lot of kids went to elementary school, they knew each other growing up and (this is) one that is always circled on their schedule.”
Porter coach Tom Campos added, “It’s a little more personal than the Xs and Os.”
The game will be filled with extra emotions, as friendships will give way to high school alliances, especially on this day. But that is something that both teams must try to put aside.
“Stay composed, don’t let the hoopla take over and just do what they’ve been coached,” Campos said. “It’s a definitely a game you can scheme for, but it’s going to come down to who wants it more.”
Porter opened the season with a win over Progreso, and Lopez was hurt by turnovers in a loss to La Joya Palmview.
The Cowboys hope to continue running the football with success against Lopez.
“We want to establish the run on offense and control the line of scrimmage,” Campos said. “We’re not going to be flashy, just play hard-nosed football, 3 yards and a cloud of dust.”
The Lobos have a defensive game plan ready, too.
“We have take care of the football and stop the run. This opponent is very similar to our opponent last week, that they hang their hats on running the football,” Starkey said. “We can’t give them the football when it’s ours, we have to win the turnover battle. We have to contain their running game and make them throw the football to beat us.”
More importantly, both coaches hope to keep the rivalry going for a long time.
“This game is important because these are two programs in similar situations,” Starkey said. “I’m really proud of both programs and the job that both staffs are doing, promoting the sport and getting families educated on the great things that can be gained by playing the sport of football.
“That’s why Campos and I are such proponents for continuing on this rivalry. (The schools have) so much in common, and we’re tackling some of the same things on and off the field.”
Pace didn’t start the season on a good note. Actually, it’s one that they would rather forget against Edinburg Vela.
“We put last week behind us when that game was over with,” Pace coach William Deen said.
The Vikings have worked on correcting their mistakes in practice.
“We want to get better, we don’t want to repeat history,” Deen said. “We have to learn from what we did wrong and not do it again. Just little things that cost you and can put the game out of hand really fast.”
Sharyland Pioneer didn’t play well offensively but made up for it on defense during a win against Hidalgo last week. The Diamondbacks know they will have to be better against Pace.
“We feel good how we played defensively,” Sharyland Pioneer coach Jason Wheeler said. “We just need to come out fast offensively, not beat ourselves with penalties and such. We need to be balanced to keep them off-balanced. Execute offensively and move the chains.”
The Vikings were good on offense at times last week and will need that to carry over against Sharyland Pioneer.
“Sometimes your best defense is a good offense,” Deen said. “(On defense), we have to slow their offense down. We need to make some great stops and stop the big play. We have to eliminate their big plays and create some of our own.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.