By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
There is something in the water at Los Fresnos.
The Falcons are good at every sport. They can beat anybody if it’s their day, not just in the East valley, but the Rio Grande Valley as well.
Under Marco Hinojosa, the boys basketball team has flourished. Currently in his ninth season, Hinojosa has led the Falcons to six district championships and a regional semifinal appearance in the 2019-2020 season.
Obviously, Hinojosa knows the game, and his record at Los Fresnos — 221-75 — backs it up. The latest win came Tuesday night on the road at Donna High, finishing up the Falcons’ non-district schedule in the process. They did not play well in the first half but surged in the second to win 56-44.
“In the second half we came out a little more intense, which opened up the game, but we got a lot of work we still need to do,” Hinojosa said after the Donna High game. “We are excited for the next five days off to get rested mentally, and hopefully ready to come back and compete.”
The Falcons’ eyes will now shift to 32-6A, a tough district in every sport. The Harlingen schools have good teams this year. Brownsville Hanna and Rivera have decent teams and will be competitive in the district, and defending champion Weslaco High had a good tournament season competing against out-of-Valley schools.
“This our last ride, we got to play every game like it is our last game,” Los Fresnos senior point guard Keane Ogao said. “As a senior, we want to end our time here on a good note, go far in the playoffs and pave the way for all the future Falcons.”
Ask any player with the top teams in District 32-6A, they would say their goal is to win district. At Los Fresnos, it is somewhat expected that all of their athletes push for that goal.
In non-district, the Falcons lost two games against good out-of-Valley competition, a game against a really good Brownsville Pace team and two close games they probably wish they could have back. Their 11-5 record is a decent start to the season.
“Our goal for this season is to definitely win district,” Los Fresnos senior forward Darius Garcia said. “We got all the players, the assets and we have been working hard. We started a little slow, but we are going to pick it up and we know we can win district.”
Garcia and Ogao are joined by fellow senior Roger Capetillo, junior Luis Ramirez, junior Tony Lerma and sophomore JJ Salazar as the key players for the Falcons. Freshman Jude Barreda and Gio Galvan get minutes and are pretty solid for being so young.
Salazar leads the Falcons in scoring and slashes to the rim well. Garcia does it all, handles the ball at times, slashes from the wing and protects the rim on defense.
Ogao looks like a more traditional point guard. He explodes past defenders and elevates well when he pulls up. Capetillo is strong and hard to get around when defending, and also explodes past defenders.
The Falcons are a fluid team with multiple people able to handle the ball. It makes it hard for the defense to keep track of players, especially when the game is opened up. Ogao found that space against Donna High and attributed that success to his team.
“I got in my rhythm, but a lot of it is my teammates get me in the spot,” Ogao said. “My teammates attract other people when they get past their man and it left me open for those spots, so credit to them.”
The Falcons open district on New Year’s Eve away against Rivera and then play host to Weslaco High a few days later.