BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
HIDALGO — You can’t take Valley View football seriously. They’re lightweights. They’re an easy win on the schedule.
Valley View players and coaches are aware outsiders hold those opinions to be self-evident, and they know why. Ultimately, they are valid. The football program has only 19 wins to 94 losses, including three winless seasons, dating back to 2006.
But junior running back Brandon Gonzalez and the rest of the Tigers players and coaches want people to think differently about the program.
“Since I was in junior high, Valley View hasn’t been known as a good program for football,” Gonzalez said. “Someday, I thought, we’re going to make some changes at Valley View. I want to make history here before I graduate. Thinking about that motivated me to wake up every morning.”
Gonzalez loved soccer when he was younger, but his mom wanted him to play a different game when he turned 10 years old.
“I started playing football because of my mom,” Gonzalez said. “I used to be bullied, and my mom thought I needed to grow up, to be a man. She found out about this football thing and said, ‘I’m going to get you in.’”
He looked up to another Tigers running back when he started playing football. Brandon marveled at Alexi Guajardo, a tailback for Valley View who completed his career in 2012 as the program’s all-time leading rusher. Guajardo was a part of the 2012 Tigers team that finished with the lone winning season in school history at 6-4.
“Alexi made history, but I want to do more here than he did when I graduate,” Gonzalez said. “More yards, more touchdowns, whatever it takes. I want my family to be proud of me, especially my mom. I want everybody to know me. I want to be known.”
Gonzalez is making his mark, rushing for 283 yards and four touchdowns on 11.3 yards per carry through three weeks. His four touchdowns are second most among the six Valley teams in District 31-5A.
“This is Brandon’s first year as a varsity player, but he was on our JV team as a sophomore,” Valley View coach Eli Esquivel said. “He’s a hard worker, and he’s got good speed. When you run a spread offense, teams have to defend the pass. Before you know it, they’re defending the pass, and then the running game will open up. That’s what’s been going on for Brandon.”
Valley View (2-1, 0-1) is coming off a forgettable performance in Week 3, losing to Rio Grande City 63-0 in both teams’ 31-5A opener. Gonzalez and his teammates know they must block out that memory when they play host to Sharyland High (1-1, 0-0), with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Valley View ISD Stadium.
“Like Coach (Esquivel) said, ‘The Valley View that played that Friday (at Rio Grande City) wasn’t us,’” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t play like we normally do. One loss doesn’t bother any of us.”
Esquivel, the second-year Valley View coach, captured two wins in three weeks, which ties the team’s win total from 2016. A win tonight would give Valley View three wins in a season, its most since the six-win campaign in 2012.
Esquivel doesn’t have any jitters going into a game that could be a perception-changer.
“We’re not feeling nervous about this game, because we have nothing to lose,” Esquivel said. “Sharyland (High)’s an established program. They’ve been at it for years. But our kids are working hard. As long as we go out, play hard and take care of our responsibilities, we feel like we’ll be on the right track.”