By FREDDY GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
RAYMONDVILLE — The start of last year’s football season seemed like the beginning of an episode of the TV series “Friday Night Lights” where the starring team comes into a new season and immediately loses its starting quarterback.
Except for Raymondville head coach Frank Cantu and his Bearkats, it wasn’t a fictional scenario. It was all too real.
After losing his starting QB to a broken collar bone in the first preseason game of the 2015, Cantu looked to then-sophomore Daniel Gutierrez and began the rebuilding process.
Rather than fold, the team rallied around Gutierrez and rose to the challenge. What Cantu got in return was a postseason birth and a star QB in the making. The proof was in the stats as Gutierrez passed for 1,019 yards on 66 of 145 attempts and rushed for 365 yards on 88 carries. Not too shabby for a quarterback with no varsity experience.
Fast-forward to this season and the Bearkats find themselves in a much better position where they may be the team to beat in District 16-4A Division II this season.
However, with a new year also comes a new set of challenges.
On offense, the Bearkats return four players with two on the offensive line. On defense, the team also returns four players but will still have to rely on a solid group of sophomores who will vie for starting spots.
“This year we have a really good group of sophomores and up to seven that might be starting on varsity,” said Cantu. “We feel that they are young, but they are going to have to grow up in a hurry.”
Today the Bearkats host Brownsville Porter in their second scrimmage of the season and the team expects a challenge.
“We are looking forward to this upcoming game because any time we can play against a hard team, it’s great,” said defensive lineman Darian Cortez. “It’s good to go up against a school that is bigger than us because it only makes us better.”
Offensive lineman Jaylon Grimaldo agrees.
“These games give a better look for how our games against La Feria and Grulla are going to be,” he said. “They run some of the same defenses and it’s always better to go up against bigger opponents because they are bigger and faster.”
The Bearkats start the season at La Feria on Aug. 28 and open district on Oct, 17 at home against West Oso.