By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
No district game is going to be easy for any team in District 32-6A this season, and Hanna expects nothing less when it faces Harlingen High.
The Golden Eagles (2-2, 0-1) play host to the Cardinals (3-1, 1-0) in a District 32-6A game at 7 p.m. Saturday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Hanna lost to San Benito on the road and Harlingen High took care of Rivera during a home victory in Week 5.
“We know we played a good game (against San Benito), and we’re in one of the toughest districts in the Valley,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “We know every week is going to be like that, no matter who we play. We have to regroup and get after it, it’s as simple as that.”
The Cardinals won their district opener against the Raiders, but they’re focused on getting better instead of facing a certain opponent.
“We always worry about taking care of our own parameters, not really worry about who we’re playing against,” Harlingen High coach Manny Gomez said. “It’s always our mindset being the next game on the schedule, we always prepare, we play one game a week. Hanna does a lot of great things that we got to get better at (defending), but the most important thing is we have to continue to play Cardinal football and limit our mistakes.”
Hanna boasts an offense that averages 331 yards and nearly 30 points per game. Quarterback Andy Lopez is the district’s top passer with 863 yards and seven touchdowns, but he will face the second-best defense in district. Harlingen High allows 286 yards and 21 points per game.
Gomez didn’t choose an aspect of the game that would be key. All were equal if the Cardinals had a chance to be successful against Hanna.
“We always want to challenge one another because we know we’re capable of being successful on offense, defense and special teams, so we don’t put more emphasis on this side or that side,” he said. “We just go out there and know if everyone does their job and takes care of their responsibilities, we’re going to have some form of success. That’s the mindset. If you take care of your job, everything else will take care of itself.”
The Eagles can be successful if they take care of the ball. They had too many turnovers against the Greyhounds, and it cost them. Medrano hopes his team can clean up the little things that added up in the district-opening loss.
“We can’t give good teams extra chances, that’s for sure,” he said. “We can’t make foolish mistakes like we did on special teams a couple of times, we have to eliminate those. We can’t give good teams extra downs or extra plays because it’s real tough (to win).”
The Cardinals’ offense averages 405 yards and 35 points per game. Hanna’s defense, third-best in the district, allows 291 yards and nearly 31 points per game. The teams are pretty even on paper, so it could come down to which team makes the least mistakes.
“We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game because Harlingen (High) is tough,” Medrano said. “But the kids are up to the challenge, and I’ve had no complaint. We’re working, and we’re going to roll the dice and see what happens.”
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.