FREDDY GONZALEZ | Valley Morning Star
SANTA MARIA — Just five games into the 2017 RGV football season and the Santa Maria Cougars (3-2) have already improved on last year’s 2-8 record.
Some credit new head football coach Steve Flores for instilling a new work ethic within the team, however, Flores insists it’s his players that deserve all the credit.
“It all comes down to a team effort,” said Flores. “Our defense is doing well by keeping us in the game and our offense is trying to improve every game because that is our goal. Get better every game, understand the system and even though we might be very basic in what we do, we try to do what we do very well to accomplish our goals for that game.
“All I’m trying to do is make these kids better, get them to know football and have them believe in themselves.”
Simple goals like picking up their first victory, finishing every game strong and making sure that the team fights until the end of every game under any circumstance has helped the Cougars turn the page this season.
“Coming in I heard that the kids gave up very easily last season,” said Flores. “This season, we’ve been trying to get away from that mentality and our kids have responded. Last week against Agua Dulce we were down 14 points and they came back in the second half and shut them down. We scored 21 points and that was the difference, but more importantly they learned what it takes to become successful.”
Valuable lessons will be put to use again this Friday when Santa Maria hosts the Progreso Red Ants.
The Red Ants come into the contest 0-3, however with playmakers like Josh San Roman, Jose Medrano and Aldo Martinez on offense for Progreso, the Cougars’ defense will have its hands full keeping the trio contained.
Offensively, Santa Maria has racked up 1,455 yards over the past four games with standouts like Alex Perez and Ismael Rodriguez leading way. Perez leads the team with 350 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns while Rodriguez is just behind with four TDs.
“Progreso is a 4A (team) and we’re just a 2A, but whatever we can do to make ourselves better is going to make us better for district, which is what our goal is,” said Flores. “We want to get to district knowing exactly what we need to do to be district champions. That’s our main objective.”
Santa Maria begins its District 16-2A DI campaign against Three Rivers on Oct. 20.