By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Porter and Donna North have experienced ups and downs during the non-district part of the schedule.
Porter (1-2, 0-0) has experienced highs and lows. The Cowboys turned the ball over eight times in a tough loss against Progreso. That was followed by win against Lopez in the Battle of Southmost. It was not only a victory over a rival, but more importantly, an end to a 25-game skid dating back to 2011. But the Cowboys played flat against UANL and looked nothing like the team from one week prior against the Lobos.
Donna North (0-3, 0-0) is playing its first varsity season and is showing what it can do on offense and defense. Though winless through three non-district games, the Chiefs have seemed to play better each week.
Both teams used the time off to refocus and take some much needed time to heal.
“We’ve handled it well, I think the kids adjusted to not having a game,” Porter coach Tom Campos said. “Luckily we didn’t have any (major) injuries we were nursing, but it gave us time to freshen up the players a little bit.”
The Chiefs focused on some of the simpler parts of the game.
“We went back to the basics,” Donna North coach Tommy Sauceda said. “The biggest thing is we’re healthy again. We were a little banged up, so that’s going to help us, too.”
Campos said Donna North may have a winless record, but he saw plenty on film to prove they are better than that.
“They give multiple looks on offense, so it gave us a lot to work on during the break,” he said. “Defensively, they’ve been in a lot of games. They’re 0-3, but the stats and the way they’ve played early on in games hasn’t been indicative of their record.”
Sauceda is familiar with Campos from when they coached together at Donna High and knows what the Chiefs must do to give themselves a chance.
“Coach Campos is going to have his team prepared defensively and offensively,” Sauceda said. “Our first goal is to stop the run and be able to establish the run. If we do those two things, I believe we’ll have a chance to be successful in this ball game. But we still have to play four quarters.”
Sauceda knows the run game will open up the offense.
“We try to be a balanced team (on offense), but if we can run the football, that’s going to help out our passing game,” he said. “We just need to come out and execute our game plan, and not shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties or turnovers. Once we eliminate those, I think we’ll have an opportunity to be successful.”
Campos said Donna North probably will experience a range of emotion. It’s something he knows can help carry a team, as it did with the Cowboys during their victory over Lopez in Week 2.
“It’s their inaugural district game, so I’m sure there will be a lot of emotion on their part. They should be fired up,” Campos said. “It should be a pretty good football game.”
That doesn’t mean that Porter has prepared any differently this week against its newest district opponent.
“We’re not going to divert from (our game plan), we’re a run-first team and that’s what we’re going to be,” Campos said. “We kind of took a step back (in Week 3), we digressed as a whole. I think it was a good thing, it opened our eyes. We’re not going to be perfect every week, so we have to overcome some things.
“We need to be more efficient throwing the football. I think we’ve struggled with that a little bit, but (otherwise) we’ll continue to do what we do.”
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.