By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Football teams experience highs and lows during the season, and Los Fresnos and Harlingen High each has had its share.
The teams enter their District 32-6A Week 8 matchup tonight at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in Los Fresnos on opposite ends of the spectrum.
The Falcons are coming off a thrashing of Harlingen South in Week 7, one week removed from their rally to tie a game against San Benito that they late in the fourth quarter.
Harlingen High, on the other hand, is coming of a loss to San Benito last week in the Battle of Arroyo, during which the Greyhounds scored 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
To make matters worse, Cardinals quarterback Bowie Davis was lost for the remainder of the year with a broken foot. It was one week removed from his return to the field after a calf injury that had sidelined him for more than a month.
But both coaches were ready to move forward.
“They’re going to be fired up,” Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley said of the Harlingen High team he expects to see. “(We have to) take care of ourselves, nothing changes. As long as we go out and play strong football, smart football, and do what we need to do to take care of ourselves, I’m sure we’ll be in the fight.”
Harlingen High coach Manny Gomez also turned his attention to the next opponent.
“(We just went) to work, it’s that simple,” he said. “We’ve adjusted. It’s an old cliché, but (the) chemistry has never been intact. It changes week in and week out. Our offensive line is adjusting, and it’snext guy up. We need to be more observant of what the defense is giving us and at the same time take care of the football.”
Finley said Los Fresnos (4-2, 2-1) must do the little things against the Cardinals.
“We have to take care of the football, tackle well, play good fundamental football in order to have a chance,” he said.
Gomez said Harlingen High (3-3, 2-1) has prepared for the Falcons’ rushing attack.
“They do a good job running the football,” he said. “They run what’s called power almost to perfection. They control the line of scrimmage.”
Los Fresnos and Harlingen High are in the hunt for a postseason berth, but they aren’t placing any extra emphasis on the district matchup.
“We approach every game with the same amount of importance, every game counts the same,” Finley said. “If we can continue to get better week by week, I think we have a pretty good chance at being in the playoffs, but that’s the challenge that every team faces. You have to get better week by week. If you don’t get better, you’re getting worse.
“Every game you don’t improve, you’re falling behind.”
The coaches agreed the game would be similar to past battles.
“Physical, very physical,” Gomez said of his expectations on tonight’s game.
Finley expected pretty much the same.
“I expect it to be a hard-fought football game,” he said. “The team that goes out and executes the best and makes the least mistakes will come out the victor.”
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.