NATHANIEL MATA | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — Senior year has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions, injuries and rehabilitation for Weslaco High linebacker Marco Noriega.
The senior was hurt early, but beat projections to return to the field in time for the Nov. 2 showdown against Weslaco East.
He was healthy and cleared after surgery to install a plate to make sure the broken bone in his leg would stabilize. Noriega came back and made an impact with two tackles. Before the night was done, however, disaster struck.
His leg was injured in the Panthers 23-21 win over the Wildcats in the Tinaco Bowl.
The victory could have been Noriega’s last snaps as a Weslaco player, but he wouldn’t allow his year to end like that.
“It was tough, but I knew my team could get it done,” Noriega said. “They came together and have been executing all year long. It was an exciting year to watch them and now I’m glad to be back.”
Second-year head coach Michael Salinas knew he had a gutsy player on his hands when Noriega chose to rehab again, knowing that his return was dependent on the Panthers advancing in the playoffs.
“I think it was really tough for him, especially being in his senior year,” Salinas said. “He stuck to the plan and made his mind up that he wanted to get back and recover. We had a plan in place to get him postseason play and hopefully he’d be able to get back and play a couple of ball games.”
Weslaco executed that plan and is preparing for its regional semifinal matchup against state powerhouse Austin Lake Travis 4 p.m. Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
They couldn’t have gotten there without a strong team-first mentality on defense.
Fellow senior linebacker Jacob Balli had to play through his friend’s injury and serve as an emotional leader.
“I saw Marco go down, he’s always been there with me through everything and we’ve always been playing together,” Balli said. “I just knew once he was out I kind of had to step up and rally everybody together, make sure we still focus the team. Because it was a big hit for everyone, not just to me.”
Noriega led the team in tackles as a junior with 79 and it was Balli who had the team lead as a senior with 62. Jaythan Gonzalez, who stepped up as the starter in Noriega’s absence is the Panthers second top tackler with 53 (36 solo tackles).
Balli picked up a fumble and returned it for a touchdown in Weslaco’s 30-14 area round win over Laredo United.
Salinas said the depth on his team’s defense and senior-heavy leadership made getting the Panthers some extra games past the regular season possible.
“The team did what we were supposed to do to give him an opportunity to play in the postseason,” Salinas said. “Some guys just stepped up. Our philosophy is ‘next man up’ and fortunately for us, guys were prepared and in place with Jacob Balli and Jaythan Gonzalez who picked up the slack.”
The Panthers defense ranked second behind Weslaco East in the 31-6A season standings. Weslaco High allowed an average of 197 yards per game in the regular season and gave up and average of 10.2 points per game.
The chemistry on the field has been sky-high with many 2019 future graduates playing together.
On offense, the juniors run the show with quarterback Jacob Cavazos and Peyton Knaub in their 11th-grade year, but on defense the top 12 tacklers are seniors.
“We’ve been together since freaking Little League,” Balli said. “We work so hard together and we flow together. It’s easy honestly; I couldn’t do it with anybody else.”
One change for the Panthers defense was coaching. Ernie Alonzo is serving his first year as Weslaco’s coordinator.
“We had set some goals at the beginning of the year,” Noriega said. “We’ve tried to eliminate the big plays all year long and this whole senior year has just been amazing. We’re glad to be at the point we are now, but we’re not satisfied.”