He’s not too excited about the evolving trend, but Hanna volleyball coach Ansgar Hagemann has seen his team get off to a slow start in many of its matches so far this season.

The good thing for the Lady Golden Eagles is they seem to many times finish stronger than they start and win.

That was the case again Tuesday at Pace as Hanna rallied to capture a non-district match against the Lady Vikings 20-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-20.

“I think I counted five starters that we had out for this match,” Hagemann said. “That’s a lot of starters to be missing for a volleyball team. But these girls hustled and played hard. I told them I was proud of them because our substitutions were limited (due to the injured players who were out).

“They always start slow, but then they build up their chemistry for a win,” the Hanna coach added. “They did that in (last weekend’s) McAllen Tournament. We’d always lose the first game, and sometimes it led to a disaster, and then other times they’d find their chemistry and come back for the win. It was nice to come back and win tonight.”

Tuesday’s opening game was tied four times before the Lady Vikings went on a 6-0 run to go ahead 13-7 and take the lead for good en route to winning the first set 25-20.

It continued to look promising for the Lady Vikings in the second game as they surged to advantages of 7-0 and 9-1 before the Lady Eagles came alive and fought back to even the score at 13, 14 and then 15.

From there, Hanna outpointed the home team 10-4 to the take the second game 25-19 and begin to gain control of the match.

Hanna never trailed in the third game as the Lady Eagles held leads of 5-0, 11-6 and 24-15 before winning 25-18 for a 2-1 advantage in the match.

The score was tied at 10 and then 11 in the fourth game, and the Lady Vikings even led 11-10 at one point. However, Hanna went ahead for good at 12-11 when Pace hit the ball out of bounds.

Pace pulled to within one point twice down the stretch at 17-16 and 18-17 in the final game, but could never come any closer, and the Lady Eagles took the match when a tip by Hanna’s Rebekah Schlatter made the score 25-20 in the fourth set.

Pace coach Gavin Rudder was disappointed with the result.

“We’ve got to work on the basic fundamentals of everything — passing, setting, serve receiving and communication,” he said. “We’ve got to dig a little deeper and improve our effort and our fight.

“I think once we improve our effort, we’re going to be a totally different team,” he added. “Our whole pre-season schedule is mostly against teams that are in a higher (6A) class than we are (5A). I’d rather play up and go against the tougher schools. I’m not OK with a loss like this one, but I’m OK with playing the bigger schools.”

For Hanna on the stat sheet, the leaders were Ariana Arceneaux (six kills, four blocks), Odalys Gonzalez (six kills, three blocks), Schlatter (four kills, three digs, one block) and Isabella Tatum (seven digs).

For Pace, the stat leaders were Amanda Gomez (19 assists, eight digs, three aces), Rosa Salinas (nine kills, three blocks), Stephanie Saenz (eight kills, six digs) Abbi Rodriguez (20 digs, three aces) and Jade Rodriguez (14 digs, seven kills).

Hanna next plays in the Volley at the Beach Tournament beginning Thursday at Port Isabel, while Pace is entered in a tournament at Mission starting on Friday.

After holding productive spring drills in May, the Rivera Raiders regrouped this week and opened their fall football workouts with two-a-days under veteran head coach Tom Chavez.

“I think we had probably about the best spring ball we’ve had here at Rivera in a long time,” Chavez said. “We emphasized strength, quickness and teamwork, so we had a good spring. Now that we’re practicing again, I just hope it pays off for the upcoming season.

“I think one of the good things I see right now is we’re bringing back a little bit of experience as far as being a team and working together,” Chavez added. “We have a lot of our people on offense returning (10 of 11 starters). We’ve just got to stay injury free and play one week at a time.”

There are four starters back on defense for the Raiders, who run a multiple offense and multiple defense.

At Rivera, the overall objective this season is a general one, yet it’s also entirely clear with a specific focus. The goal set before the Raiders is to get better in every way and become a more competitive team after enduring last year’s frustrating 1-9 finish.

Since the first practice began on Monday, the workouts initially have been centered upon conditioning as approximately 45 varsity players have sweated during drills under the hot sun. The pads will be put on Friday with an intrasquad scrimmage to soon follow.

The players and coaches are all in agreement — it’s time to show improvement and build upon what was accomplished in the spring.

Knowing there would be a one-week wait before starting workouts compared to the other city schools because of their spring session, a sense of anticipation already had been building for the Raiders by the time Monday arrived.

Running back/defensive back Quintae Smith, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound senior, said he ran six miles on Sunday “just to get warmed up” for Monday’s practice.

“I ate a good breakfast (Monday) and got here at 8:30 a.m. ready to go,” said Smith, who started at free safety as a junior and now expects to carry the ball more as a senior. “It felt great (to practice again). These first few days feel great. It’s tiring, but it’s going to be worth it. We’re putting in work on the field and what you put into something is what you get out of it.”

Added teammate Josh Portales, a 6-3, 240-pound two-way senior lineman who has started three seasons: “I was excited (on Monday) and I woke up early. I’m excited for this new season and just ready to put in the work.

“It was kind of disappointing last season, but we’ve got to come back from it and show that we’re Raiders. We want to show we can bounce back from anything with our work ethic on the field. We’re working hard right now and we just want to get back into the rhythm of the game so we can do well this season.”

One of the strengths of the team going into the 2017 season for the Raiders is having an experienced quarterback such as Nico Blanco, a 5-11, 160-pound senior who was the starter last year.

Just like all of his teammates, Blanco is ready to play at a higher level and contribute to more wins this season.

“I think this year we have a different mindset compared to these last couple of years,” Blanco said. “This year we want to make a change, so we’re working pretty hard.

“It’s exciting to have football back,” he added. “It’s a little bit tiring out there (working out), but it’s worth it. It’s a pretty big deal for me because when I was little, I used to come watch my brothers (Joseph and Edward Blanco) play for Rivera. Now that I get my chance to be one of the Raiders, I want to do as much as I can to help them.”

The Raiders’ lone scrimmage this year is scheduled against Donna High on Aug. 25 at 10:30 a.m. at Sams Memorial Stadium.

They open the regular season against Porter at 7 p.m., Aug. 31 at Sams. They begin District 32-6A competition against Hanna at 7 p.m., Sept. 28, also at Sams.

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

With its participation in spring practices, Porter had to start its football season a week late.

Even so, the Cowboys got right to work Monday morning, picking up where they left off in the spring.

“It seems like a quick turnaround because of spring ball,” Porter coach Carlos Uresti said. “We were out here 2, 2 1/2 months ago, so it works well for us. The kids are fresh, everything’s fresh in their minds.”

Uresti, who served as the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator for the previous four seasons, is now at the helm. But he wasn’t about to change the team’s progression from the spring to the first practices of the season.

“The kids enjoy it and it gives them something to look forward to,” he said of spring practices. “They know what we’re doing out here, there’s no transition (to the new season).

“Everybody’s engaged … everybody’s working.”

The Cowboys players were eager to get on the practice field. They felt that with good participation in the spring, along with a full summer of conditioning and hitting the weight room, they’re better off than a season ago.

“We feel ready, we feel confident,” senior defensive tackle Abiel Lopez said. “We had a good offseason … we busted our tails, so we’re feeling pretty good.”

Two years ago, Porter earned a playoff berth but lost a large senior class to graduation. Last year, the Cowboys were young and inexperienced and endured a winless campaign. With another year of experience, Porter is ready to put last season behind it.

“It feels great to be back,” senior linebacker Christian Villa said. “We had a bad season last year, but spring ball helped out with younger guys.”

Porter was on the field going through individual drills and working on everything from linemen blocking, quarterbacks working on their footwork and receivers running routes.

Ramiro Martinez had mixed feelings about the start of practice. The senior quarterback/receiver was happy to be on the field, but was sad because it was his final season on the gridiron.

But Martinez was excited about the transition to Uresti’s era and the optimism has been contagious thus far throughout the team.

“It’s awesome, he was already part of the family,” Martinez said. “We feel comfortable. We trust in him … we believe in what he tells us. I feel like we’re going to have a good year.”

Enthusiasm aside, the Cowboys are focusing on finding a quarterback as practices opened. Benjamin Eckersley, who was slated to be the starting quarterback, has apparently decided to focus on basketball this season.

Uresti was disappointed, but was looking forward to the battle in practices for the starting job. Three players, including Martinez, are in the mix.

“There’s a good competition going on right now,” Uresti said. “It’s a healthy competition, to say the least. It’s unfortunate (about Eckersley), but we have to keep working on it … those kids are taking on the challenge of being the starting quarterback.”

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.

Desi Najera’s football career almost ended before it really began.

The former senior all-state quarterback for the 1969 Brownsville High Golden Eagles was all but ready to give up football as a freshman a few years earlier at Faulk Junior High (now Faulk Middle School) so he could walk home his girlfriend after school.

Najera figured he couldn’t have it both ways — either he was going to be practicing with the football team when the school day ended or he’d be escorting young Miss Carmen Guerra, also a freshman, to her residence several blocks away from the Faulk campus.

“That was very nice of him, right?” said Carmen, looking back to those long ago junior high days of 1966 and Desi’s after school offer.

No doubt about it, Najera was clearly smitten by Cupid’s arrow.

“I met Carmen and it wasn’t long before I asked her if I could walk her home after school,” Najera said. “She had to get permission from her dad. I walked her home a couple of times and I was ready to give up everything (including football for her).”

That’s when Faulk coach Frank Gonzales stepped in to save the day.

Recognizing Najera’s talent for playing football, particularly as a /running back/quarterback, Gonzales came up with a compromise solution.

“‘I remember Coach Gonzales saying, ‘I tell you what I’ll do for you,’” Najera said. “He said, ‘I’ll give you 15 minutes to walk her home, then you can run back over here as your warmup, get dressed (into your football gear) and meet us on the field.”

It was an unexpected arrangement that sounded almost too good to be true to the young athlete.

“I said, ‘Yes, that’ll work,’” Najera told his coach, elated in knowing he could keep his girlfriend and play football, too.

“It was my freshman year, I was getting older then, and it was that time in the mid-1960s when I first really started paying attention to girls,” Najera said. “It sure was great of Coach Gonzales to allow me to do that.

“I wouldn’t be here today (being interviewed about my football days) if it wasn’t for my junior high coach,” Najera added.

Gonzales believed the young athlete had a bright future in high school at QB. Najera had played all his junior high games at running back until his last one as a ninth-grader when he was switched to signal caller and threw a long touchdown pass while running the ball well on QB keepers.

That showing confirmed what Gonzales had thought all along about Najera. The Faulk coach soon suggested to Brownsville High coach Joe Rodriguez that he might want to give Najera a shot at playing QB in high school.

Sure enough, Najera received his chance at QB and flourished in his role as a three-year starter for the Golden Eagles. As a senior in 1969, he earned second-team all-state recognition after passing for approximately 1,300 yards and rushing for more than 1,000 yards while scoring a ton of touchdowns.

With his agility and speed, Najera led the 1969 Eagles to a 10-2 record as Brownsville High reached the Class 4A state regional round of the playoffs after winning the District 26-4A title.

In the process, Najera, playing at 6 feet, 175 pounds and wearing jersey No. 11, became known in Brownsville football history as one of the city’s best all-time QBs.

And what became of young Miss Carmen Guerra?

On June 30, 1972, she became Mrs. Desi Najera. The couple’s 45-year marriage has produced six grown children, all of whom are college educated and working at professional jobs.

But that’s another story.

SIMPLY AN AMAZING TEAM

The 1969 Eagles were by no means Brownsville’s first football squad to win a district championship, but their team is considered one of the city’s all-time best. It was a squad that went 10-2 overall with a 6-1 mark in District 26-4A at a time when only one school from each conference advanced to the playoffs.

Just like every other successful team, it was a group of talented players, mostly seniors, who came together to achieve a common goal.

The players from the 1969 team are pretty much all in their mid-60s now, and many have retired. Despite the passage of time, they recall their high school days and their landmark season of 48 years ago as if it was only yesterday.

Najera, one of 11 players to sign a scholarship to play college football from the 1969 team, is well-remembered because he was the dual-threat quarterback who passed for approximately 1,300 yards and rushed for more than 1,000. As a senior that year, he rushed for 19 touchdowns and passed for 12.

Najera always emphasizes that he was surrounded by many standout teammates throughout the lineup who all contributed to the success the Eagles enjoyed that season.

Most notably, there was Ruben Fernandez, a tough-as-nails fullback/defensive back who wound up earning first-team all-state honors for his play in the secondary. Fernandez went on to play at Sam Houston State for one year before hanging up his cleats and graduating from the University of Houston in 1974.

A team that averaged 37.2 points per game during the regular season, the Eagles ranked as one of the state’s top-scoring squads, if not the most prolific. Najera tied for the Rio Grande Valley lead in scoring that season with 118 points. Fernandez, also the Eagles’ kicker, was third in the Valley with 109 points. Fernandez kicked five field goals as a senior.

“We were all great teammates since the time that we were sophomores and we formed lifetime friendships,” said Fernandez, who taught and coached at Hanna for 30-plus years and is now retired and in the process of moving from Austin to Phoenix. “We had a great group of players who paid the price. It was basically a team that was together for three years.”

When Joe Rodriguez took over as Brownsville High’s coach before the 1967 season, a vast majority of upperclassmen loyal to previous coach Jack Schultz left the team. That meant the starters in 1967 were just about all sophomores, a group that included Fernandez and Najera.

Thus began a journey to a district championship two seasons later.

“We had 24 sophomores (in 1967) and we went 0-9,” said Rodriguez, who later became Brownsville ISD’s athletic director and a multi-term school board member. “The only thing that kept us from being 0-10 was Hurricane Beulah (in September of that year).

“We got massacred, really,” Rodriguez added. “But we told the players ‘Those who stay will become champions,’ and they did.”

The turnaround started in 1968 when the Eagles went 6-4 and played for the district title. Although they didn’t get it, losing out to Alice, they were motivated to do even better the following season as seniors.

“The seeds of success were planted in the offseason with our intensive weightlifting program and with a lot of running and conditioning,” said Mike Goode, a center/outside linebacker for the 1969 Eagles who now works as a land manager for an oil and gas business and lives outside of Magnolia, Texas. “The kids who were skinny as sophomores beefed up and we became a really good team.

“We came back from 0-9 to go 6-4 (as juniors),” added Goode, who went on to play center at Rice University before earning his college degree in 1974. “We had the word ‘Remember’ taped on our helmets (in 1968). The guys developed a real sense of pride. We were out for vengeance (after going 0-9) and we freaked people out.”

The Eagles won their final three games of 1968 and came into the 1969 season on a roll, outscoring their first four opponents 144-25 by defeating Laredo Nixon (24-0), Mercedes (40-6), Weslaco (40-19) and Kingsville (40-0). The Eagles’ record increased to 7-0 with wins against McAllen (64-28), Harlingen (27-0) and Alice (31-22).

A 27-22 setback against Pharr-San Juan-Alamo marked Brownsville High’s only regular-season loss. The Eagles rebounded with victories against Edinburg (36-7) and San Benito (48-0) to take a 9-1 record into the playoffs.

“We believed in each other and we didn’t want to let down our teammates,” Goode said. “We always expected to win every time we took the field.”

Added Mike Casas, a defensive end/tight end who now is retired and living in Jersey Village outside of Houston, “We stuck together the whole time. The coaching staff was basically the same (during those years) and they got us to do the best we could.”

Out of high school, Casas and fellow linemen Walter Adams and Joe Petrarca signed to play at West Texas State. Casas eventually graduated from the University of Houston in 1975.

ALL-DISTRICT HONORS

Najera, Fernandez and teammate Charlie Hernandez, a flanker, earned unanimous all-district selections in 1969.

Other Eagles receiving all-district honors that season included linemen Casas, Adams, Petrarca, Lalo Sanchez, Richard Olivares, Mike Saldana and Joe Gaspar, linebacker Goode, flanker Danny Salinas, defensive backs Albert Trevino and Lonnie Robinson, and running back Johnny “O” Olvera, a sophomore who topped 1,000 yards rushing and wore jersey No. 0.

Also on the Eagles’ roster were tight end Eddie de los Santos and defensive lineman Cesar Moreno.

“It was one of the most satisfying times of my life playing on that team,” said Olvera, who now lives in Keller, a suburb of Fort Worth. “It was just a great experience. It was a well-oiled and established senior team when I came to it and I was able to join in and add the right type of oil to help them out.”

Along with Rodriguez as the head coach, the coaching staff included Albert Ortiz, Ramon L. Rodriguez, A. Hector Garcia, Gonzalo Garcia, Tom Chavez, Lorenzo Sanchez and Leo Garza.

Najera gives a lot of credit to the coaching staff for the team’s success.

“Coach Joe knew the potential we had and the coaches molded us,” Najera said. “They were like our second dads and they kept us together.”

In the playoffs, the Eagles came from behind to defeat Corpus Christi Miller 25-15 in bi-district before a packed crowd of 10,000-plus fans at Sams Memorial Stadium. Miller had a talented team with three future NFL players.

The Eagles then lost to Seguin 47-14 in the regional round to finish the season 10-2.

A memorable play from the playoffs took place against Miller when the Eagles trailed 15-10 and faced a fourth-and-two situation from their 39-yard line with 9:14 remaining. During a timeout, Najera came to the sideline to talk to Rodriguez and it was decided to try to run for a first down rather than punt.

Najera remembers telling his coach, “Let me run it, I can make it,” meaning he could get the first down.

So the call was made as Rodriguez replied, “Are you sure? OK, run it.”

The speedy, shifty quarterback kept the ball out of the Eagles’ Houston Veer and ran to his left, which was the short side of the field. He put a move on a defender at the line, saw an opening and sprinted 61 yards down the sideline to the end zone.

“I knew I could get the first down, but I wasn’t expecting to go all the way,” Najera said. “I told (running back) Johnny (O) not to clamp down too hard on the ball (on the possible handoff) because I might be keeping it myself and taking off.”

A two-point conversion pass from Najera to de los Santos gave the Eagles an 18-15 advantage.

Two minutes later, Fernandez scored a TD on a 1-yard plunge and booted the extra point to make the final score 25-15. A fumble recovery by Trevino at the Miller 24 following a muffed punt by the Bucs set up Fernandez’s insurance score.

The Eagles again won the coin flip and returned to Sams the following week to play Seguin in front of another 10,000-plus fans in the second round of the playoffs.

This time, however, the magic came to an end for the Eagles. The two teams were tied 14-14 at halftime, but the Matadors pulled away in the second half to win 47-14 and the Eagles’ memorable campaign came to a close.

Almost 50 years later, the players still smile when they think about their 1969 season and like to recall even the smallest of details.

“Eddie de los Santos and I alternated at tight end and we brought in the plays, but Desi was always changing them,” said Casas jokingly.

THE GREAT DEBATE

Brownsville has witnessed its share of standout quarterbacks over the years, and the question arises, who should be considered the city’s all-time best player at the position?

It’s an ongoing discussion with no clear answers.

Candidates for the honor come from various eras with different styles of play.

Just a few of them who could be considered in the conversation are Brownsville High’s Larry Kveton (1959), Brownsville High’s Eddie Vaughan (1962), Pace’s Danny Alvarez (1980), Pace’s David Bryan (1981), Porter’s Adrian Moya (2008) and Rivera’s J.J. Sanchez (2010) along with current signal callers Kai Money of St. Joseph Academy and Gustavo Vasquez of Brownsville Veterans Memorial.

Then of course, there are the two players who frequently dominate the discussion of who is/was the city’s top QB — Desi Najera of the 1969 Eagles and Billy Garza of the 2003 Porter Cowboys.

Because of the talent they showed in high school, Najera and Garza, a 3,185-yard passer with 38 TDs as a senior, each attracted plenty of interest when recruiting time arrived. Najera went to Texas A&I and Garza chose the University of Illinois, although “Billy the Kid” eventually finished out his college career playing for the Javelinas at Texas A&M-Kingsville, which previously was A&I.

Najera, a 1970 Brownsville High graduate, perhaps went through one of most active college recruitments of any city athlete before or since his time in the spotlight. From an Eagles team that sent 11 players on to play in college, Najera himself received 26 scholarship offers and personally shook hands with iconic coaches Darrell Royal and Bear Bryant during the recruiting process.

Najera decided to stay close to home and attend A&I, where he played for the Javelinas two seasons. As a sophomore QB, he started against Trinity University in 1971 and passed for 192 yards while rushing for 141 yards. His combined yardage of 333 yards set an individual school record at the time for single-game total offense and earned him recognition in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.” The magazine awarded him a golden bowl, which has become a prized possession.

But Najera’s time at A&I ended after only two years. He gave thought to transferring to a college in Livingston, Alabama, or going to New Mexico Highlands, and even visited Monterrey Tech in Mexico. But those playing possibilities never panned out.

“I guess the Good Lord had other plans for me,” Najera said. “I don’t have any regrets.”

He returned to Brownsville, got married in 1972 to his freshman sweetheart Carmen and started a family. He became a Brownsville fireman just like his father, Israel Najera. It was a career that spanned almost 20 years in the fire department before he went to work as a manager for Cameron County. He later taught at his son’s (Desi Jr.’s) Christian school.

In 1995, Najera earned his college degree from the University of Texas at Brownsville with a major in kinesiology and a minor in history.

He retired in 2015 and continues to work from time to time as a substitute teacher in Brownsville ISD.

Yes, the years have passed, and once in a while when he’s substitute teaching, a football coach at one of the local schools will want to introduce him to a group of younger student-athletes who come from a much different generation.

Najera usually goes along with the coach’s wishes, and tells him, “I don’t think they really know or care who I am, and that’s OK. They weren’t even born yet (when I played).”

Desi says life is good and he and his wife are enjoying retirement and the freedom they have to visit their six children in and out of the Valley.

He’s heard all the comparisons between himself and other Brownsville QBs, particularly Garza, regarding who was the best. He has no opinion on the matter other than to say he is honored to be part of the discussion.

Najera, who turns 66 in November, never saw Garza play for Porter back in the early 2000s, but he went to see “Billy the Kid” play for the Javelinas in 2008 or 2009 in Kingsville. Garza also later played Arena ball and now coaches at Pace.

“Billy had the arm,” Najera said. “I remember thinking they could have maybe utilized him more (with the ball). He could run it, but of course, nowadays they try to protect the quarterback a lot more and you don’t see them carrying the ball all that much. I missed out watching him in high school, but I knew he was a playmaker. I’d read the articles in the paper and I knew he had a lot of potential.

“Billy had good height, a good arm and good running skills,” Najera added. “I was impressed with his ability to run the offense.”

All in all, Najera said he simply feels grateful to have played football when he did and have the teammates and coaches he had.

“I feel blessed to have been a part of that 1969 team and those teams of the previous two seasons,” he said. “The guys became great men. They were disciplined, dedicated and awesome teammates. I still respect the camaraderie we had and the efforts that were put into that team, individually and together. It was all a team effort. We didn’t see ourselves as individuals.

“We all had our job to do and we did it,” he added. “I really feel blessed and happy to have been a part of it and to learn the important lessons we learned. Those are the kinds of things that follow you through life and you always carry them with you.”

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

The first tournament of the 2017 volleyball season produced some solid results for Metro-area teams.

Still, they want to continue to get better.

Leading the way for Metro-area teams at the weekend’s Poundfest tournament in McAllen were the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons, who finished as consolation champions in the Gold Division on Saturday as the three-day event came to a close.

The District 32-6A defending champion Lady Falcons opened the day with a 25-18, 26-24 loss in the quarterfinals to Laredo Alexander, a team they defeated 25-20, 25-23 on Friday in pool play.

Los Fresnos rebounded to capture its next two matches to take the Gold Division consolation championship and improve to 9-1 on the season.

Later Saturday, the Lady Falcons triumphed over PSJA Memorial 25-18, 25-20 and Edinburg Vela 25-15, 25-10.

“They are just an amazing group of players,” Los Fresnos coach Becky Woods said of her team. “We were very evenly balanced in hitting, blocking and every other aspect of the game. There’s a terrific attitude (on this team) and everyone wants to play, which makes it even harder to decide who does play because most of the players are so evenly matched.

“We are going to win a lot of matches this year if we can stay connected and focus on what we need to do to get the job done,” she added. “We are excited for this season.”

Brownsville Veterans Memorial, the District 32-5A defending champion, also played in the Gold Division, but suffered losses Saturday to McAllen Rowe 25-19, 25-15 and Vela 23-25, 25-22, 15-13.

“Our girls played well considering two of our starters are out,” Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares said. “Then, during the Rowe match, my other setter went out with a concussion and we had to run a 5-1 (alignment) using my middle blocker Bridget Himes (as a setter).

“We got hit with a lot of adversity and the girls handled it very well,” Mares added.

Hanna and Rivera played in the tournament’s Silver Division on Saturday.

Hanna made it to the championship match by defeating Rivera 2-1 and Laredo Cigaroa 2-0. In the Silver Division title match, the Lady Golden Eagles were defeated in two games by Sharyland High.

After its loss to Hanna, Rivera rebounded to defeat PSJA High and PSJA North in two games apiece to capture the Silver Division consolation championship.

“For the first tournament, we played well, but we still have some work to do on being a bit more consistent,” Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said.

Also in the Poundfest tournament from the Metro area, Pace, Porter and Port Isabel played in the Bronze Division on Saturday.

Brownsville Veterans Memorial enters the new volleyball season with some momentum.

The Lady Chargers have captured district titles in three of the past four seasons, and with a solid group of returnees on hand for the 2017 campaign, things again are looking quite positive for the defending District 32-5A champions. They won district with a 14-0 mark a year ago.

The new season begins this week as a majority of Metro-area teams are playing in tournaments today through Saturday. Many teams played regular-season openers on Tuesday.

Just like all other squads, the Lady Chargers are eager to find out what the 2017 season holds for them.

“I’m really excited to be back on the court with this group of girls, both the returning ones and the new faces we have,” said senior Rebecca Cardenas, a 5-foot-10 middle blocker and three-year member of the varsity squad. “It’ll be really fun and I hope a lot of people can go to our matches.

“Even though we were undefeated in district last year, I feel we still need to work really hard again to stay undefeated,” Cardenas added. “A lot of our girls know there were some struggles last year and we faced a lot of different things. This year, if we go through struggles, we’ll know how to fix them and keep winning as a team and not give up on what we want to accomplish.”

Also bolstering Brownsville Veterans’ chances at the net is the presence of 5-10 senior middle blocker Bridget Himes, the 32-5A co-MVP last season.

“We do have a lot of people coming back (eight returnees, including seven seniors) and that helps with the connection we’ve made between each other before,” said Himes, also a three-year member of the varsity. “We’ve been there and know how it feels to be in the playoffs and we know we want to be there again. We also know we have to work hard with our new people coming in.

“It’s all in God’s hands,” she added. “I think communicating and supporting one another will help us along the way.”

Besides Himes and Cardenas, an all-district second-teamer last year, other returnees for the Lady Chargers include Cassie Valdez, Kasandra Jimenez, Mariela Angeles, Briana Estrada, Cynthia Garcia and Pamela Sanchez. Valdez was the setter of the year in 32-5A last season while Garcia was the 32-5A newcomer of the year. Jimenez and Sanchez also received all-district honors.

“The players are excited about the season and I told them to come up with a motto about what we want this year,” said Lady Chargers coach Lisa Mares, now in her eighth season guiding the team. “They came up with ‘It’s All About the Hype’ because they’re excited, it’s their last year and they want to leave it all on the court (and show the hype is justified). They want to go out as seniors with no regrets.

“(Because of our returning talent) I really don’t have to fill a lot of the positions,” she added. “That’s one of the positives. I just basically have to replace the three people from my defense of last year that have graduated. There are a few spots to fill, but I really like the fact that we already have experience in a lot of the important positions. That’s a big plus for us.”

Newcomers who could make an impact include a pair of juniors — setter Aylinn de la Cruz and front-row player Frida Rangel.

“We’re arriving (to the season) very well,” said Valdez, a two-year member of the varsity. “We’re working hard because we want to get better. We know teams are going to try to beat us, but we have a lot we want to achieve. The energy and vibes are really good with this team.”

Here is a brief look at each of the other teams in the Metro-area:

RIVERA LADY RAIDERS

Virtually the entire squad from last year is returning and that makes the Lady Raiders one of the favorites in District 32-6A as they finished second behind Los Fresnos last season.

“This team has experience, the girls are playing together and I think it’s a strong team,” said veteran Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra, who is approaching 500 victories for her coaching career. “We’ve been building toward this season for the past two or three years.”

The Lady Raiders’ experienced group includes Litzy Medina, Mayra Martinez, Stephanie Garza, Valery Uresti, Kourtney Shears, Kaylyn Samano, Martha Ramirez, Claudia De La Garza, Victoria Zuniga, Maddie Blanco and Norma Garcia.

In 2016, Shears was the 32-6A setter of the year, Garza was the 32-6A offensive player of the year and Blanco was one of three 32-6A newcomers of the year. Medina and Zuniga were also all-district honorees.

“We just need to stay united and healthy, and I think we will,” Avelar-Guerra said.

LOS FRESNOS LADY FALCONS

The defending 32-6A champion Lady Falcons may not have quite the height of recent seasons, but there is no lack of hustle and athleticism on the 2017 squad. The new group is well aware of Los Fresnos’ winning tradition under longtime coach Becky Woods, an RGV Sports Hall of Fame inductee in 2016, and the girls want to do their part in living up to it.

It’s a group that has been together since eighth grade and plays hard all the time, Woods said.

“They can hit and move around to cover spaces very well,” the Lady Falcons coach said. “We’re not that big, but these girls can get the job done. They have a lot of heart.”

Two standouts back are libero Isis Delgado, last season’s 32-6A defensive player of the year, and outside hitter Giselle Ibarra, an all-district first-teamer.

Other players to watch include Hope Trevino, Natalie Leal, Sandra Salazar, Hannah Castillo, Sarah Villarreal, JoJo Adame, Itzy Zapata, Emma Stumbaugh, Kaitlan Villarreal and Gaby Cuevas.

HANNA LADY GOLDEN EAGLES

The Lady Eagles welcome back a solid group of players who were on Hanna’s playoff team out of 32-6A a year ago.

They include five players with starting experience — Ryann Wood, Xitlali Montes de Oca, Ely Perez, Tabitha Fernandez and Melina Morales. Other players with experience who figure to contribute are Nataly Davila, Ariana Arceneaux, Tamara Guerrero, Isabella Tatum and Salone McManus. Montes de Oca, Wood, Morales and Fernandez are past all-district honorees.

There are some newcomers who could make an immediate impact as well.

“Having gotten the fundamentals down, our players are advanced and we’re able to work on advanced techniques again,” said Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann, now in his eighth season leading the team. “We need to improve our team defense and keep everyone healthy. We’ve had a three-year run in the playoffs and we’re still hungry for more.”

PACE LADY VIKINGS

Gavin Rudder begins his fifth season directing the Pace program. The Lady Vikings opened the season on Aug. 1 with a “Midnight Madness” practice session for the fourth straight year that attracted 52 participants.

“This group is very close and they all get along very well,” Rudder said. “They know each other on the court really well. This is probably the most cohesive team I’ve had (at Pace). Everyone on this team is pretty well-rounded. Everyone can play multiple positions.

“There’s not a super star, rather we’ve got a group of players who work together real well,” he added. “I think that’s better than having just one superstar. They can do all jobs that are given them.”

The returning corps of seven players includes Stephanie Saenz, Alexis Arce, Jade Rodriguez, Amanda Gomez, Rosa Salinas, Sophia Espinoza and Kimberly Villarreal. Saenz and Gomez were 32-5A all-district honorees a season ago.

A newcomer who could contribute is Abbi Rodriguez.

LOPEZ LADY LOBOS

Jacquelynn Touchet, the former Rivera and UTB-TSC player, is emerging as a successful coach now, having guided Lopez to the playoffs twice in the past three years.

The Lady Lobos have the makings of another team that could contend for a playoff spot. There are three returnees — setter Noemi Gallardo, outside hitter Jenny Cisneros and middle blocker Carla Lopez.

Lopez, who figures to be one of 32-5A’s top hitters, and Gallardo earned all-district recognition last season.

“I’m eager to see what this season has in store for us,” Touchet said. “The team has been working hard during the offseason and summer.

“Although they may be young, there is a lot of talent and potential for this season,” she added. “I am excited to see their hard work transfer over to success in district play.”

PORTER COWGIRLS

The Cowgirls displayed some solid play in 32-5A last season during Ariel Arredondo’s first season as their coach. There were spirited and momentum-building conference victories against Pace and Donna North during the first round of district.

The Cowgirls will attempt to improve upon their past accomplishments and become even more of a factor this season in the 32-5A race.

PORT ISABEL LADY TARPONS

The Lady Tarpons experienced a rare season out of the playoffs in 2016. It was the first time in Julie Breedlove’s four seasons as the team’s coach that she didn’t get her girls into the postseason.

“Last season was on me,” Breedlove said. “I’ve been looking at what I can do better this year to get the team back on top. Our goal is to get back to the playoffs (out of District 32-4A). This will be the first year since I’ve been here that we’ll have freshmen joining us (on the varsity).”

Incoming freshmen include Jane Christensen, Allison Gonzalez and Samantha Chapa.

Returning players are Olivia Soliz, Carolina Guevara, Tylynn Jee and Celia Garza. Soliz, Guevara and Garza each earned all-district recognition last season.

ST. JOSEPH ACADEMY LADY BLOODHOUNDS

Varsity volleyball is being played at St. Joseph Academy for the first time this season. Dolores Olguin-Trevino, with previous stints at Hanna and Los Fresnos, is the coach.

“Our journey has begun and the girls are excited and determined to make it the best they can,” she said. “They are working hard to be as prepared as possible for varsity competition, and so far, they are getting better.

“Our goal is to have a group of girls that will get on the court to create a competitive team,” Olguin-Trevino added. “For the most part, the team will be comprised of a mixture of freshmen through seniors. Since we don’t have the luxury of having large classes, we have to pull from all high school grades. I am trying to fit the players into proper positions, and will continue to do so, until I find the magic six to eight players that work together the best.”

Two seniors who are expected to be important contributors are Milandra Bossolo and Lesly de la Llata. Others who figure to help out include Ally Stachowiak, Victoria Gonzalez and Halima Dervisevic, who is a freshman.

IDEA FRONTIER LADY CHARGERS

Experienced athletes back for the Lady Chargers are all-around player Selma Villarreal, middle hitter Trisha Silva, outside/middle hitter Amber Castillo and defensive specialist/libero Kayla Sanchez.

The District 32-3A team has a new setter in Stephanie Leal.

“My expectations for the season are to have the underclassmen get more varsity experience,” IDEA Frontier coach Cassie Hinojosa said. “This is our rebuilding year because I will be losing my three key players next year. Hopefully my key players this year will pass on their experience and knowledge to the younger group of girls.”

Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess

A strong showing in their season opener has the Rivera Lady Raiders feeling pretty good about the upcoming volleyball season.

Playing on their home court, the Lady Raiders cruised to a 25-8, 25-13, 25-10 non-district victory Tuesday against Edinburg Economedes.

“We have been confident since the very beginning, and it’s a good feeling knowing we’re working as a team (and winning),” said Rivera’s Litzy Medina, a senior team captain. “Everything is for the team. We’re not being cocky or anything. It’s just good knowing we’ll go into a match and be able to play the best.

“We started off strong tonight and played like it was our last day (to play),” Medina added. “This makes our confidence go even higher going into our tournament (starting Thursday in McAllen).”

Both teams opened the regular season Tuesday and both of them will be playing in McAllen’s Poundfest Tournament running Thursday through Saturday.

Rivera has an experienced team this season with virtually its entire roster returning from a season ago. Its edge in experience was evident against the Lady Jaguars, who never seemed to maintain any momentum for more than a point or two.

“It was good (to have a match like this one),” veteran Rivera coach Elizabeth Avelar-Guerra said. “The girls looked good and they played good. They didn’t relax too much (even though we held big leads). They kept playing hard through the whole match. That’s one of the problems we have. Sometimes when the match is an easy one, they sit back and they’re not playing as hard, but they played hard through it tonight.

“Our girls just have to get ready for some stiff competition coming up in our tournament later this week,” the Rivera coach added.

Leading the stat sheet for the Lady Raiders were Kourtney Shears (33 digs, four aces, three digs), Medina (11 kills, four aces), Maddie Blanco (16 digs, four aces) and Stephanie Garza (10 kills, three digs).

“It’s good to start off with a win so we can get our momentum going,” said Mayra Martinez, also a senior team captain for Rivera. “We’re really close and we play for each other. Playing like that, we know we won’t let each other down.”

There will be better nights ahead for Economedes as far as stats go. Norma Castillo had three kills for the Lady Jaguars and teammate Isabel Arguello had one.

As soon as the afternoon rolled around, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial football players were getting anxious.

The Chargers were ready to get going for their first practice of the 2017 season.

“It feels amazing … I’ve been waiting for this day ever since the last day of football last season,” senior cornerback Aaron Recio said.

The players have worked all summer, running, conditioning and lifting weights — like others around the Metro-area — but now that practice is finally here, they’re eager to hit the field.

“I’ve been waiting all summer to put pads on,” senior defensive end Manny Yanez said. “To get strapped up and start getting ready for the football season.”

Yanez and the rest of his teammates will have to wait a few days for that. Players can only practice with helmets for now and will have to wait until Friday for contact practices.

It all started in the summer. Brownsville Veterans head coach David Cantu said his team put in the work in the offseason, investing its time to prepare for this moment.

“The more you have invested, the more you fight for something,” he said. “As coaches we try to take advantage of that; we want to hit the ground running.”

The Chargers are coming off a season in which they earned a share of the District 32-5A crown, but lost around 40 seniors to graduation in the offseason. While the goals won’t change, faces do and Brownsville Veterans is trying to figure out who can fill those spots.

“It’s a new year and a new start, there are new faces,” Cantu said. “One of our big goals is to develop depth at all positions. If we have situations with injuries … hopefully we don’t … we’ll have the answer for that.”

During its first practices of the season this week, Brownsville Veterans plans to make sure the team is where it needs to be day-to-day. Rather than try to get everything figured out on Day 1, the Chargers are reviewing, reinstalling and making sure they’re learning gradually, mastering one thing before moving on to the next.

“It’s a long season, so we have to pace ourselves,” Cantu said. “We need to stay calm and make sure we’re teaching.”

The team started its practice with special teams work before moving to individual and position work. Coaches made sure players were getting their footwork down, their hands off a block correctly and everything in between, focusing on the basics, their techniques, the small things that make a difference later in the season.

Brownsville Veterans hopes to continue what it started last season. But the Chargers know nothing will be handed to them, they have to earn it.

“No days off … we have to put in that work,” senior offensive lineman Brandon Salazar said. “We can’t let other people tell us we’re not as good as last year.”

No title is won or lost on the first day of practice, but Brownsville Veterans knows it all starts with belief and hard work. Even on the first day of practice though, the Chargers were chomping at the bit because they knew what they were working towards.

“Our main focus is do your job … know your responsibility,” Recio said. “But we’re all hungry, we all want another district championship.”

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.

Leonel Garza wasn’t planning to be a coach.

As he’ll tell you, he just sort of fell into it.

What he didn’t realize at the time is he was put on Earth to serve others and help those in need, and through a career that spanned 31 years of education, athletics and administration, he was able to do that within the community and on the gridiron.

Garza’s roots are buried deeply in Los Fresnos, started by his Tejano family on more than 20 acres of farmland that surrounded the town nearly a century ago. Growing up in the farming community just about 12 miles north of Brownsville, he learned the values of hard work, dedication and service following the examples set from his grandfather, who served his country in World War I and became a farmer, and his father, who served in World War II and worked as a farmer and a maintenance supervisor in the school district.

“Because of those two men, I have a right now to speak,” Garza said. “I’m proud of being a Texan, an American and (I’m) proud of my family.”

Instead of the battlefield, Garza would make a name for himself on the football field as a player and later on the sideline as a coach. But among all his accomplishments earned between the goalposts, his proudest moment was coming to the aid of his fellow man.

On the evening of July 7, 1988, Garza was watching Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” when across the bottom of the television screen scrolled a message asking for volunteers to help in downtown Brownsville. During a torrential rainstorm earlier that afternoon, the La Tienda Amigo department store had collapsed. Employees, customers and others seeking shelter from the storm were trapped under the debris from the decimated three-story building.

Upon reading the horrific news, Garza didn’t hesitate and immediately drove to Brownsville to help any way he could. Working alongside other volunteers, he helped look through the remains of the fallen structure in search of life. Using their hands and various tools from a nearby construction site, Garza and others moved pieces of the building throughout the night to reach victims. Garza recalled some of the injured trapped under the fallen debris were on the brink of death, while others could only be located by their screams in the darkness.

The next morning the efforts of his search party were rewarded when a woman was discovered within the wreckage.

“That’s when this arm came up … this lady had her rosary and blood all over her,” Garza said, the emotions of that day still fresh in his mind nearly 30 years ago. “We were working through dead people to get to them … we saved them.”

For three days, the relief effort would continue as Garza and hundreds of others recovered as many people as they could. The collapse left 14 people dead and 47 others injured, and the memories of that tragedy still haunt Garza and those affected that summer day.

A quarter-century before this disaster would forever impact his life, Garza, now 68, found his calling on the football field.

“This other stuff … I never expected anything,” he said. “It happened to fall in place.”

In 1964, Garza was a skilled freshman quarterback that helped Los Fresnos score nearly 45 points per game. He also played snaps at safety on defense that allowed just five points per game while posting six shutouts during the regular season. The Falcons finished 11-2, won a District 32-2A title and reached the third round of the playoffs under coach Earl Gartman. Garza’s sophomore season wasn’t as kind, however. After a 5-0 start, the team dropped its remaining five games — all district contests — and Gartman was relieved of his duties.

Garza was upset with the finish, feeling as though he could have done more and went to work the summer before his junior campaign.

“I didn’t want to be the reason the team wasn’t successful because I didn’t do my part,” he said.

Garza’s father received permission from the superintendent for him to use an empty old barn that served as a gym. On each corner inside the building, Garza created squares made of tape. Using a pair of footballs one after the other, he began his rollout and aimed toward the target. For the rest of that summer and the next, Garza practiced his throws until every one was a perfect spiral to the middle of the crafted square.

During that time, Garza improved so much that he got bored and had to come up with new challenges to keep himself motivated and working. That included learning how to throw the football to make it bounce back to him after a throw, using the football to hit the edges of the tape to take it off the wall so he could replace it the next week, and learning to throw left-handed. By the time he was done, both balls were worn out, but his dedication to his skillset paid off when Jerry Tomsu arrived.

The new Los Fresnos coach was hired prior to the 1966 season and brought his run-and-shoot offense with him. In an era when nearly every team ran the ball faithfully, Garza thrived with his arm in the new offense.

“The first year we played Mission (High) and it was a shootout,” Garza said. “We ran four running plays and I passed 52 times. At the time it was a state record … but I’m nowhere near the record now.”

Los Fresnos went on to win back-to-back district titles in ’66 and ’67 going 9-1 in 32-2A during that time. Following his senior season, Garza earned second-team all-state honors for defense at safety and was the top passer in the state for Class 2A with 2,137 yards and 21 touchdowns. He also earned honorable mention on the Prep All-American Football team.

Garza didn’t initially think about playing football beyond high school, but an opportunity presented itself, one close to home at Trinity University in San Antonio. He played well — he earned team honors his freshman season as its top offensive player — but played just one more season and opted to transfer after his head coach was fired.

He entertained offers from programs such as SMU, TCU, Oklahoma and BYU, to name a few. In the end, he chose to go to Livingston University in Alabama (now the University of West Alabama) because it was the only school that allowed a few of his teammates an opportunity to transfer with him. They all loaded up in Garza’s ’64 Mustang and headed South. Before getting too far, Garza stopped by a pay phone to make a quick phone call to his mother.

“I called to tell her I was changing schools,” he said. “In those days when you turned 18 you made your own decisions, your own choices. I told her, ‘I’ll be home for Christmas.’”

The decision to transfer would be one of the best choices he ever made, but it wasn’t without some adversity.

After a successful season his junior year, Garza separated his non-throwing shoulder during spring practices. He returned to Los Fresnos for the summer to heal, but by the time he returned he had lost his starting job. He was diligent and regained his spot among the starters before the 1971 season, but a change in the offensive scheme would put him on the sidelines again.

The team switched to a wishbone formation and Garza didn’t have the foot speed. A few games into his final season, Garza became the backup. He worked hard to get better and pushed the new starter every week in practice. The senior signal caller earned playing time in various games, but never regained his starting role. The consolation prize was the team went on to become the NAIA national champions that season.

Although the ending to his playing career was great, the ultimate prize for Garza was meeting his future bride, Wanda. When the relationship was getting serious during their final year of college, Garza contemplated his future and decided he still wanted to be a part of the game. Although not much of a football fan at the time, Wanda was supportive of her future husband when he wanted to return to Texas to pursue coaching after graduation.

Garza was reassured of her commitment with one conversation.

“I told her, ‘I won’t see you until 7:30 at night … Thursdays will be later and Fridays even later,’” Garza said. ‘“I’ll be working Saturdays to prepare for next week and making zero money’ … she’s been with me for 45 years.”

At the age of 22 in 1972, the recent college graduate got his chance as an assistant at Mission High working for Tomsu, his former high school coach. In 1978, Garza joined Gordon Foerster at Pace as the offensive coordinator and helped the Vikings win 42 games over the next five seasons, including back-to-back outright district titles in ‘80 and ‘81.

Sammy Montalvo, now the offensive coordinator at Brownsville Veterans Memorial, was the JV quarterback that converted to wide receiver and became a starter during the ’78 and ’79 seasons at Pace. With a run-and-shoot offense, it paid dividends for all as the Vikings went 16-4 over that span.

When Foerster left Pace for Corpus Christi King in ’83, Garza finally got his shot as a head coach after spending 11 years as an assistant.

“In retrospect, I just changed desks,” Garza said. “I got a job and I made the most of it.”

Continuing his own play-calling duties for the run-and-shoot offense, Garza led Pace to an outright district title in his first year at the helm and finished as runner-up during his second season. In seven seasons at Pace, Garza and the Vikings suffered just one losing season.

Along the way, Garza gave former players and fellow coaches similar opportunities that he was given earlier in his career.

“I got to know him as a player and then as a colleague and then worked for him,” Montalvo said. “I came back in ’87 and he hired me as the sophomore coach (at Pace). It was important (to him) that coaches meshed well together. When he became the head coach, he just changed offices — everything else was the same. He was a great boss … he let you do your job.”

Garza estimates that seven or eight of his assistants went on to be head coaches. That includes Montalvo, who was at Pace for a couple years, Jesus Amaya, who went to Hanna and then Los Fresnos, and David Cantu, who Garza gave his first coaching opportunity after college. Cantu eventually went on to Rivera before moving to his current position at Brownsville Veterans Memorial.

“He made me make big decisions on my own,” Cantu said. “If I went to him with an issue, he wouldn’t solve it, but he helped me. He valued everyone’s opinion that had a big influence on me. He let us live and learn in coaching, allowed us to develop and make our own mistakes.”

In 1990, Garza began a brief stint as the athletic director for Brownsville Independent School District. But he missed the sidelines and Amaya, who had just begun a stint at Garza’s alma mater, hired his old boss as the offensive coordinator. At the time, Los Fresnos and Port Isabel faced off annually in the Battle of Highway 100 and the Falcons were stuck in a long losing streak to the Tarpons. According to Garza, Los Fresnos ended that streak that first year upon his return.

When Amaya stepped down after the ’95 season, Garza took over at Los Fresnos for the next six years, winning another outright district title before retiring in 2001. Garza finished with 86 wins over his 13-year career, 10 of which were winning seasons. And yet he deflects the credit, in his mind, to those who deserve it.

“Every win was very tough,” he said. “It was those (assistant) coaches and those players that did it. Coaches … we worked together. I don’t ever say ‘He worked for me’ … I might have been the head coach, but we worked together.

“I didn’t lead my team, I was a teammate. I was surrounded with athletes, I just did my part.”

Garza’s legacy is one of integrity that goes along with his humility.

Cantu recalled a tough game where his team was down at halftime and no one had any answers. A fellow assistant suggested something outside the rules and Garza let him know he wouldn’t stand for such talk.

“(Garza) stopped what he was doing and chewed out the coach,” Cantu said. “He was never going to do something that was questionable. That stood out to me.”

Another time, Cantu made a tough decision to bench a starting quarterback that had acted up multiple times in class. Garza reminded Cantu of the situation in a handwritten note inside a card upon his retirement: “That’s when I knew you were going to be a great coach.”

Montalvo saw Garza’s values as a player and a coach and said they never wavered.

“He wants to do things right,” Montalvo said. “Integrity is probably the most important thing to him … that’s just the type of person he is.”

Garza was successful by making sure his players were mentally and physically tough and better prepared than their opponents, using tactics he learned from his own coaches and mentors.

“We’re going to train you so you have a clear mind and thoughts for three minutes,” he said. “The last three minutes in the game … that’s when it counts. If it’s close, they’re exhausted, you’re exhausted, who is the one that can still think? Who can still remember the count? The play? I pushed them and pushed them to the limit.

“If it was close, we were going to beat you because we were prepared.”

The coach had just three rules: Pass all your classes, make all the workouts and be respectful to your teammates, coaches and teachers.

“That’s all I want, that’s all I ask,” Garza said. “I treated all the kids the same. I was a bastard, but when push came to shove, they could always come to me for help. I was always fair.”

Garza used emotion to get his players to reach their full potential. It was a balance of love and hate and he used both effectively.

“He wasn’t going to be your friend, he was your coach,” Montalvo said. “He wanted to put you in tough situations to see how you responded. Get used to winning and how you were going to be when you lost. We prepared our kids to give it their all.”

Garza recalled having a player who got into some trouble one time, and the coach went to smooth things over with an administrator. The administrator, who questioned why Garza was helping the player, assumed it had to do with athletic prowess. The coach retorted, “I’m here because he’s one of mine. He doesn’t even start, he’s just one of mine. My job is to get him straight when he messes up and get him to walk the line in May to graduate.”

Even years later, coaches use some of the things they learned from Garza in practices to hopefully lead to similar success. Examples such as running 10 perfect plays to end practice and creating competition among teammates for certain drills.

“We still use some of the same things he did,” Montalvo said.

Soon after his retirement in 2001, Garza was asked to help the Los Fresnos school board. He answered the call to service — in November that mark will reach a period of 12 years — just like he always has when someone is in need.

“I wanted to see if I could make a small contribution to help the school district get into a good path for education,” Garza said. “Sometimes you lose track of the path of what you want to do … there was some questionable things that were happening in the district, but now we’re doing well academically.

“The way I am and the way I do things are far from trying to impress anyone … it’s just something I enjoy doing.”

These days Garza keeps just as busy as he ever has. Although he no longer has cattle on his farm — he had as many as 72 head when he was the coach at Pace to raise and sell and keep himself busy on the weekend. Garza still takes care of the family farmland, he built some stables to board horses and sells mesquite wood by the bag for Christmas money. And he has four grandchildren, two each from his son, Carlos, and daughter, Irma Estela.

In 2006, the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame honored Garza for what he did as a football player and a coach. But in his mind, his greatest accomplishments didn’t occur on the field or sideline, it was helping to save innocent lives in their time of need.

“Every time I talk about that (Amigo department store), I get emotional,” Garza said. “It still affects me … that’s one thing I’m proud of that I did.”

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.

By Joe Alberico | Staff Writer

Four losses.

Thirty-six years later, it’s a number Tommy Roberts dwells on when he’s feeling regretful over his departure from Port Isabel High School.

“Why did I leave? That’s a good question I’ve asked myself a lot over the years,” he admitted. “I can’t even give you a good answer.”

During Roberts’ four seasons as the Tarpons’ head football coach (1978-81), opposing teams were often left the same way — answerless.

Roberts led Port Isabel to a four-year stretch of Rio Grande Valley dominance that saw the program post a 47-4-1 mark during his reign, including a sparkling 30-0 record in district contests. It culminated with a 13-1 showing in ‘81 that ended when the Tarpons fell short to eventual Class 3A state champion Cameron Yoe in P.I.’s first-ever state semifinal appearance.

And despite what some may consider an abrupt exit for Roberts, the 47 victories that preceded his last defeat in Tarpon blue helped cement Roberts as a Port Isabel legend and furthered a program tradition that is still present on the field all these years later.

Following his graduation from Texas State University in 1962, Roberts, a Leander native who turns 77 on Tuesday, earned his coaching chops at Aldeen High, Round Rock and Freer before landing in P.I. in ‘78.

Roberts, who later became the All-Valley football coach of the year in 1978 and 1981, took over for Elmer Harbour (19-3 in two seasons with the Tarpons), and wasn’t shy about the state of the program he was inheriting.

“I just inherited a great situation at Port Isabel,” Roberts recalled. “They already had some success in the past, and they had some athletes. I just had to call the plays.”

It wasn’t just Roberts on the sidelines, as the coach will gladly confess.

“My assistant coaches, they played a big part in the success we had,” Roberts said. “I had a great group of football minds that really kept the kids focused and ready to play each Friday night.”

Behind offensive coordinator Chuck Seidler, the Tarpons scored 418 points with the help of speedy quarterback Don Guillot, who commandeered a multi-headed monster of a rushing offense. Guillot was named the All-Valley football player of the year in ’81 after passing for 637 yards (seven touchdowns) and rushing for 580 yards (eight touchdowns). He was also a formidable defender, snagging 17 interceptions for the season. Behind Guillot in the backfield were also potent rushers Terry Roberts (coach Robert’s son and a 1981 All-Valley first team running back and linebacker) and Poncho Herrera.

“I always preferred to run it rather than pass it, because after you threw the ball, someone would have to catch it,” Guillot joked. “Coach Roberts really installed that run-oriented offense, and the tradition just kept going from then on.”

Guillot, who is now 53 and lives in Splendora, was a three-year varsity starter under coach Roberts, finding time at defensive back and QB. When asked if his coach’s evaluation of the Tarpon program prior to his arrival and his impact in the coming years was 100-percent accurate, Guillot had a slightly different take.

“Coach Roberts was always like a father figure to us. He instilled in us that if we had anything, whether it be on or off the field, he was going to be there for us,” Guillot said. “He gained everybody’s respect. We were all like a family, so to speak. We were never the biggest guys; we were always the smallest guys, but we always had the biggest heart. That — and coach Roberts — is what got us where we went.”

No one is likely to argue with Guillot. Well, maybe Tuffy Martinez, who has his own recollection of the memorable ‘81 campaign.

When contacted for an interview to discuss the ‘81 team, Martinez, a former Tarpons safety, fired back a quick response.

“Best defensive team from that year ever assembled in the Valley,” he sent via text message. “Forty-six interceptions and like six shutouts. Come on. Get some better figures than that and you might change my mind.”

Martinez’s pride in the ‘81 Tarpons defense is justified. But in fairness, he was actually underselling a nearly impenetrable unit. Behind P.I. defensive coordinator Eliseo Villarreal, the Tarpons defense, affectionately dubbed the “Seawall Defense” by P.I. fans, was ruthless.

The Tarpons blanked their first four foes of the year by a combined score of 95-0 before finally allowing a touchdown in a 34-6 rout of La Feria on Oct. 2, 1981.

“It was several weeks into the season, and we hadn’t been scored on. We were playing La Feria, and they scored on us right before the half, and the score was 30-something to 6,” Roberts remembered. “(La Feria’s) fans started chanting ‘We scored on you.’ So I guess you’re doing pretty good if that’s the best they can say.”

La Feria’s six points were practically a fluke. The Tarpons went on to slap Santa Rosa and Hidalgo with zeroes over the next two weeks, and in total, P.I. held opponents scoreless in 10 games, including two in the 3A playoffs. The defense surrendered just 53 points on the year.

“We took pride in not getting scored on,” said Martinez, who saw time as an assistant football coach at Port Isabel, Sharyland High, Hidalgo and Los Fresno before serving as head coach at Santa Rosa for one season.

“Our defensive coordinator was an excellent coach. We can’t talk about coach Roberts with out talking about coach Villarreal. He lived and breathed defense.”

But Martinez will admit that Villarreal was there because Roberts knew he needed to be.

“We were surrounded by great men, great tutors and great mentors,” Martinez added. “Coach Roberts assembled a staff that helped us excel. He was very stern. He demanded a lot from his athletes and his coaches. And he put in a lot of time and effort in continuing our tradition there at Port Isabel.”

Behind Monty Stumbaugh’s 124 victories and Tony Villarreal III’s 60, Roberts’ 47 wins are third most among Tarpon football coaches. However, his winning mark of 90 percent is far and away the best in program history.

“My take on coach Roberts is this: You have all the parts for an engine, but if you do not piece that engine together correctly, if you don’t have the right mechanic, that engine is not going anywhere,” Martinez said. “I always thought this about coach Roberts: Come Friday night, wow.”

The consensus from Roberts and his former players was a lack of physical size for P.I. on the field was overpowered by sheer will. The Tarpons’ closest victory of the season was a 10-0 tipping of Rio Hondo in the playoffs, and many contests were virtually decided by halftime.

“When we walked on the field, I never felt like we were going to lose,” said Hank Etheridge, Roberts’ senior starting center whom both his head coach and Etheridge’s teammates affirm weighed in at a frail 135 pounds during the ‘81 season. “We had always put in the work, — and worked hard — and we were going to win.”

Etheridge, a 1981 All-Valley first team center who now serves as commander for the Brownsville Police Department, said a majority of the ‘81 Tarpons took the field just as he did — undersized. Yet, Etheridge says that granted opposing teams no advantages where it counted most: The scoreboard.

“If you had looked at our size you would have said ‘Man, this team is going nowhere,’” Etheridge said. “All of us were small, but we all played with a lot of heart. But I think a lot of that was the good coaching staff that Roberts put together.

“He was a very passionate coach. He was a coach who cared. It wasn’t just about coaching, but developing the players as young adults and young men. I think a lot of the work ethic he brought to the team attributed to the success, both on the field and later in our lives.”

Port Isabel’s ability to play beyond its physical limitations was likely on no better display than during its showdown with Refugio in the regional round of the postseason. Heading into the matchup, the two teams traded No. 1 and 2 state rankings in both the United Press International and Associated Press polls, and would finally get a chance to settle the debate on the gridiron.

The Tarpons apparently weren’t in the mood for a lengthy discussion.

Behind another smothering effort from its defense, Port Isabel drubbed Refugio 36-0 to reach the state semifinals.

“There’s talent, and then there’s people that work harder,” Guillot said. “And (coach Roberts) made us work hard. He made us want it.”

Unfortunately, that desire wasn’t enough to carry the Tarpons for another week. The magical run ended seven days later, as Cameron Yoe turned an 18-14 halftime edge over P.I. into a 25-14 win en route to a berth in the state championship game.

Port Isabel reached the endzone in its first possession of the game, prompting Roberts’ cousin — Tarpons running backs and wide receivers coach Buddy Roberts — to proclaim the outcome of the game would be ‘just like all the rest.’

“But it wasn’t,” Tommy Roberts lamented. “Cameron Yoe was a tough team and they got the better of us that day.”

Cameron Yoe went on to defeat Gilmer to capture the Class 3A title.

The loss has done little to tarnish the greatness that was the 1981 Tarpons football team. Two P.I. teams have since reached the state semifinals, with Villarreal III (1994) and Stumbaugh (2003) sharing the feat with Roberts.

Roberts and Seidler’s run-heavy offensive attack has also stood the test of time, as Port Isabel remains a stout, run-first program to date.

“I think future coaches at Port Isabel just understood that the running game worked and P.I. produces athletes that can be successful running the football,” Roberts said. “If you can come in and say ‘We’re going to whip you (on the ground), and you know we’re going to whip you,’ it just shortens the game if you can get the job done. And ultimately, I think you just dance with the one that brung ya.”

With all of his success, the only detractor Roberts still faces today is himself. The choice he made to walk away from a growing powerhouse may forever pull at him.

“That was a special team,” he said. “You go through the business for years and years, and then some special things come together, and you stay injury free and this sort of thing, and good things just sort of happen.

“So, I don’t know why I left. Port Isabel is the greatest football community in the state of Texas — there is no doubt about it. Nothing is expected short of winning. If you coach in Port Isabel, you better win. There’s nothing that solves anything like winning. I love Port Isabel to this day. I can’t think of any downside.”

And yet, Roberts finally offered up one possibility as to why he walked away all those years ago.

“I guess I thought I was burned out on coaching,” he said. “It took me a couple of years to realize I wasn’t. And I have a lot of regrets about that sometimes.”

The one regret Roberts and his players will never have is the standard they set for future Tarpons teams — and RGV teams in general. The ‘81 season showed future generations that football success in they Valley does not have to be defined by district championships.

“We still carry that flag proudly,” Martinez said. “We’re proud of what we accomplished, and we want these newer generations to know that what we did can be done. The talent is here.”

Added Etheridge: “There’s a sense of pride that comes with being the first in P.I. history to reach that level of the playoffs, but it’s an even bigger honor to see that future teams reached that same level and that it’s known that things can be accomplished when you come together and work hard for it.”

As Roberts’ players finished their prep careers and moved on in their professional lives, Roberts returned to football in 1984 as the running backs coach for the San Antonio Gunslingers of the now-defunct United States Football League. When the league collapsed in ‘85, Roberts used it as a platform for a reunion with the high school game, and spent the next 10 seasons rebuilding the San Benito program.

In his third season, with Seidler once again by his side running the offense, Roberts transformed a floundering Greyhounds team into a district champion. By 1995, San Benito had become one of the top teams in the RGV. Two years later, Roberts left the program and retired from coaching.

“I think the art of high school coaching — ya know, the pros, I coached there, too — there’re some similarities. It’s not talent because you know (the pros) wouldn’t be there if they weren’t talented,” Roberts said. “In high school, talent isn’t the thing. You have to take that little ol’ kid who’s bony and clumsy, and find the qualities that he has and put him in the right place to be the best player he can be. And if you can put all of those players in the right spot, and instill in them to improve every day, you’ll have a chance somewhere down the line.”