DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
During last week’s 40-6 setback at Los Fresnos, Edcouch-Elsa was without defensive starters Julio Contreras, Elias Munoz, Adrian Rodriguez, and Victor Valdez, and running back Adrian Cardoza. After the first quarter, starting receivers Andrew Segura (shoulder) and A.J. Rodriguez (foot) left the game because of injury.
Pain has been a theme for the Yellowjackets the first three weeks of the season. It’s unknown whether the team’s health will be better by Friday’s game at Edinburg North. Coach Joe Marichalar said all of the injured ‘Jackets are “day to day.”
“We don’t want to go the excuse route,” Marichalar said. “We don’t want to downgrade our backups. We feel confident in those guys, but they’re still learning the situation through reps. And you don’t get that at practice, you get it in game time.”
Contreras, Munoz and Cardoza missed E-E’s Week 1 win over McAllen Rowe. Marichalar has found some capable fill-ins, like defensive end Seth Garcia and linebacker Miguel Morones, but a formidable non-district schedule featuring two of three Class 6A teams that made the playoffs last year is daunting, particularly for inexperienced players.
Marichalar said if the ailing players are cleared to play Friday, they will play, even if a bye next week before the start of district play might allow more time to heal.
“It’s the (Class) 6A wave, and we schedule tough teams for a reason,” Marichalar said. “I want to test our resiliency, character and heart during non-district, and that’s what I want to see. I want us to go out there and play ‘Jacket football.
“No matter whoever’s out there, we want to get something out of it.”
WANTED: NON-DISTRICT GAME
Last year, inclement weather wiped out Donna High’s third and final non-district game against Brownsville Hanna. That meant the Redskins went three weeks between games.
“It hurt our timing and routine,” Redskins coach Ramiro Leal said. “You want to keep playing consistently. Hitting ourselves is not the same thing as hitting someone else, and what ended up happening last year is we regressed. By the time we caught up, other teams were ahead of us.”
So, given the choice of playing Thursday or Saturday against Hanna this season, Leal chose Thursday for a better chance of getting the game in.
“We planned this out to where maybe we can avoid the bad weather,” Leal said. “Both of us (Donna and Hanna) felt the effects of the lay-off between games last year. We lost to PSJA Southwest to open district, and they lost big to San Benito.”
Playing the game Thursday allows the two teams to re-schedule if necessary. They have Friday and Saturday as options, whereas last season’s Saturday game would have forced the teams to make it up the following week, which Donna did not want to do because it was a bye.
HOME AGAIN
Everything is in motion for Mercedes to debut its new 6,500-seat stadium Friday with the Tigers hosting La Feria.
Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said he was told his team could practice on the new turf field today, with a grand opening for the stadium set for Thursday.
“They got done what needed to get done,” Adame said. “The track just needs striping, but it’s down. I think we’re ready to go.”
Adame said the city and school board had yet to give their approval, but that was expected to come late Tuesday or early this morning.
The Tigers, who played on the Mercedes Livestock Show grounds the last 40-plus years, will play their home opener after starting 0-2 on the road, the latest a six-point setback at McAllen Rowe in double overtime.
“We want to continue putting drives together and continue taking care of the ball like we have,” said Adame, whose team has no giveaways. “Defensively, we want to see the same thing, flying to the ball, physicality and giving our offense more opportunities.”
Adame said sophomore quarterback Zach Gomez improved considerably from Week 1 to Week 2, particularly in the passing game and management of the offense.