By FREDDY GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
LA FERIA — The La Feria Lions’ strong (6-1, 2-0) start to the 2014 season has come from a variety of areas.
For starters, junior quarterback Isaac Galpin has thrown for 849 yards and 13 touchdowns, but has also rushed for another 392 yards with another 10 touchdowns. Also, let’s not forget sophomore running back Adrian Torres and junior Russ Gonzalez who have a combined 978 rushing yards so far this season.
While there is plenty of praise to pass along to a multitude of assets at coach Salinas’ disposal, he is quick to give most of it to his senior defensive secondary.
According to La Feria head coach Oscar Salinas, the great start was not expected by many beyond his seniors.
“At the beginning nobody thought we were going to 6-1, but our senior leadership on defense has really come through for us”.
At the commencement of the season coach Salinas was facing a tough dilemma. His entire offensive line had graduated and most of his offensive players were young and needed to gain experience, so he placed the pressure on the shoulders of those he knew he could count on; his defense.
“We have a lot of confidence in them, we’re able to do more things in the box because of them,” said Coach Salinas. “We’re able to put them in man coverage if we have to, and we’re able to change secondary coverage’s whenever we can.”
“That versatility is what’s made as successful as we’ve been able to be.”
So far this season the Lions have out scored their opponents 253-79 and are off to one of their best starts since 2011.
“Early on our defense carried us and gave us short fields to work with because of the turnovers, but now I think both sides are playing at the same level,” said Salinas.
With the weight on the experienced defense, coach Salinas’ offense has had an easier time growing up.
“Robert Tamez has been there (varsity) for three years, Ozzy Cisneros and Jaime Garcia have been big this year, our free safety has been a big leader for us, and AJ Tamez who is probably one of the best corners that’s not talked about,” said Salinas. “Those five seniors have really stepped it up and they’ve have been really good for us.”
“AJ came back to us this year and has been awesome. He’s as good as Ozzy and does a good job on the other side.”