By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Hanna has improved on both sides of the ball in each game they’ve played this season.
And the Golden Eagles are playing like a different team this season. That includes taking chances to get a win.
Against Donna High, Hanna had a chance to tie the game at 28 by kicking an extra point late in the fourth quarter, but coach Rene Medrano choose to go for a 2-point conversion instead for a chance to take the lead and steal a victory on the road.
“No guts, no glory, right?” Medrano said. “That’s the way it goes. Would we do it again? We probably would.
“We didn’t come for a tie, we came to win the game.”
It was a gamble that failed this time around, but Medrano was adamant he had no second thoughts on the call.
With district play starting next week, the Eagles seem to be playing for playoffs or bust.
Hanna is certainly playing to win. If the Eagles continue to play like a team with nothing to lose, it won’t be a surprise if they claim one of the four playoff spots.
Even with the loss to finish non-district play, Medrano said the team is confident, especially with the important depth chart heading into district play.
“It gives us confidence because we saw some things (Thursday) out of other kids that hadn’t been playing a lot,” he said. “We saw some things we can go to I think, we saw some depth on some kids.”
BACK TO BASICS
Los Fresnos finished non-district play unbeaten, but the Falcons aren’t happy with a few things before District 32-6A starts.
Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley felt the team has spent so much time preparing for three very different opponents that they are getting sloppy in other areas.
“I think we need to spend some time with the basic fundamentals,” he said. “Whenever you’re game planning sometimes, your fundamental work gets behind.”
With a bye week this week before district play next week, the Falcons will use that extra time to take care of the little things.
“It was a challenging week (last week) because (PSJA North) had so much to throw at you,” Finley said. “We’ll get back to the basic fundamentals of our offense, our defense, our tackling and try to improve on those things and be fundamentally sound when we get into district.”
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.