By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Showtime has arrived for football teams in District 32-6A and District 32-5A.
District competition begins this week for all Metro-area teams in those two districts.
“Things are magnified 100-fold now,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “The games coming up are the ones that really count, so we have to be ready.”
Coming off last week’s open dates, local teams are scheduled for district games Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It all begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in Brownsville with a 32-5A opener between Porter (1-2) and Donna North (0-3) at Sams Memorial Stadium.
At 7:30 p.m. Friday in 32-6A, it’s Harlingen High (1-2) taking on Rivera (0-3) at Sams, Lopez (0-3) visiting Los Fresnos (2-1) and Brownsville Veterans Memorial (2-1) traveling to Harlingen South (1-2). Also that day, Pace (1-2) goes to Mercedes (2-1) for a 32-5A opener.
The weekend culminates at 7 p.m. Saturday with Hanna (1-1) playing host to San Benito(1-2) at Sams in a 32-6A opener.
Also, in a non-district contest matching a pair of 4-0 teams, St. Joseph Academy visits Port Isabel at 7:30 p.m. Friday in The Herald’s Game of the Week.
The first four weeks of the 2014 season are in the books, and ready or not, teams now find themselves playing the games that really matter as far as the district standings are concerned. Local teams had the advantage of last week’s bye to fine-tune things in preparation for their district openers.
“We’ve been getting ready (during the bye week and this week) for our next opponent, and really, for all the opponents the rest of the way,” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said.
Because of the creation of a Class 6A division by the University Interscholastic League, effective this school year, for the first time in a decade Brownsvilleteams have been divided into two districts rather than just playing all together in one. The split was determined by enrollment figures as Pace and Porter remained in 32-5A to face a new set of district opponents, while Rivera, Lopez, Hanna and Brownsville Veterans moved up to 32-6A along with Los Fresnos to form a new district that also includes San Benito, Harlingen High and Harlingen South.
With district play getting under way this week, those new district alignments are beginning to draw greater attention.
In theory, the new district alignments actually appear to be a good thing for Brownsville teams, since they now are divided into two different conferences based on enrollment numbers and would seem to have an even greater chance to reach the postseason.
Still, it all comes down to winning district games, and that’s what local teams have been busy preparing to do.
For some coaches, the areas to concentrate on regarding their team’s improvement are obvious.
“One of the biggest things for us is we’ve come out strong on offense in two games (but have not continued to play that way throughout the game),” said Pace coach William Deen, whose Vikings are coming off a 53-22 win over Lopez on Sept. 12. “It’s about finishing, and we’ve got to get four quarters from our offense. We can’t leave our defense on the field (so much).”
Besides Pace, two other Metro-area teams going into the start of district on a roll are the Los Fresnos Falcons and Brownsville Veterans Chargers. They’ve each won their last two games.
“I’m excited about where we’re at,” said Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley, whose Falcons rallied from a 34-14 deficit in the second half to win 35-34 at PSJA North in their last game on Sept. 12. “We’re battle tested, and we’ve played some really good football teams (in non-district).
“I think this district is as strong as I’ve ever seen it (with this group of teams) in my five years here,” he added. “Any team can beat any other team on any given night, so I’m glad we’re battle tested. We’ve been in some wars already, and hopefully it’s prepared us for the seven (non-district games) to come.”
Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said his squad is eager to start its 32-6A schedule.
“We look forward to the challenge (at South on Friday) and expect to execute our game plan and play an aggressive style of Brownsville football,” Cantu said. “On a positive note, two starters who missed our last game (a 41-0 win over Edinburg High on Sept. 12) due to injury will be back. They are left tackle Mario Gomez and cornerback Felipe Flores.”