By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
It doesn’t matter to Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley that Edinburg North may look different this season.
The Cougars have a new coach, Rene Saenz, and only three starters return from last season’s senior laden squad that went 11-2.
Nevertheless, Finley expects the same effort from Edinburg North in years past.
“I expect a war,” he said. “They play really good football on both sides of the ball. There’s a tradition there, they’ve been several rounds deep (in the playoffs) several years in a row now.
“I expect it to be a very physical football game.”
Tonight, Los Fresnos plays host to Edinburg North, the District 31-6A opponent in the Herald’s Game of the Week and the Week 1 opener for both squads.
Saenz had concerns about how his team could contend with the Falcons’ size.
“They have a lot of size up front on the offensive and defensive line, their linebackers are, too,” he said. “They are going to be at home and have a lot of energy.”
Saenz and his team are only coming off one scrimmage because of spring practice, but he felt all personnel questions were answered months ago. Several players are still getting used to the varsity speed and will be making their debuts tonight.
“The first game is always a bag that we’re waiting to open to see what we get,” Saenz said. “We’re confident (our players) know what to do, it’s just a matter of reacting during game situations.”
Finley expects the inexperience won’t have much bearing on the way Edinburg North plays.
“Those young ones over there know they have some big shoes to fill, and I have no doubt they are going to come over here and play their hearts out,” he said. “They’re well-coached. They play great defense. They’re very hard-nosed on the offensive side of the ball, and that’s what we try to be.”
Offensively, the Falcons will rely on an experienced line up front for new starting quarterback Pierce Ruiz and a trio of running backs to keep moving the chains.
The Cougars counter with Matt Whitesides, who rushed for more than 1,600 yards and scored 17 touchdowns one year ago for Edinburg North. Martin Rodriguez gets the nod under center and expects to throw often in the run-first spread offense.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re not going to put it up (in the air),” Saenz said. “We have three quality receivers that we definitely want to get involved in the game.”
With youth and inexperience throughout the starting lineups, the coaches expect first-game mistakes.
“Try to play mistake-free. If we don’t do something to hurt ourselves, we feel like we can play with anybody,” Saenz said. “That’s going to be the question mark with a young team though.”
Finley felt missed opportunities would be the key.
“That’s always the case, whoever makes the least mistakes a lot of times has the best chance to win,” he said. “We have two young football teams playing, so there’s going to be some mistakes made, but there’s going to be some plays made as well.
“I think it’s going to be a fun game to watch, there’s no telling what’s going to happen.”
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.