By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The Harlingen High Cardinals added to their tradition of excellence by clinching a co-District 32-6A championship this season, and now they have their sights set on taking advantage of another postseason berth.
The Cardinals (5-0, 3-0) have been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks, including having to cancel the 32-6A title game against Brownsville Hanna. They’ll be without some players because of COVID-19 cases and concerns when they face Edinburg North (2-4) in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division I playoffs at 7 p.m. today at Boggus Stadium, but they’re just thankful for the chance.
“We’re going to be a little short-handed, but that’s why we say we’re Cardinal football players, so wherever you may be needed, you need to jump in there and be a part of it,” Cardinals coach Manny Gomez said. “I’m just thankful that we’re getting the opportunity to get out there and play. It’s a great opportunity for both schools, both communities to come together and see our kids perform and experience some joy amongst each other because there’s a lot of negativity around, and I think we can enjoy seeing kids compete and do what they love.”
Gomez said the key to Harlingen High’s success on both sides of the ball — the Cardinals are scoring 31.4 points per game and holding opponents to 9.8 points per game — starts with the offensive and defensive lines.
Senior right guard Ruben Almendarez is part of the big Cardinals offensive line. He said the Cardinals feel confident and prepared heading into the game against Edinburg North, and the senior class is leading the locker room because it wants to “keep moving forward” through the playoffs.
“We just have to execute everything, especially because it’s a playoff game because we don’t want to be going home first round,” Almendarez said. “(The Edinburg North Cougars) run a lot of the similar schemes on defense, so it’s nothing we haven’t seen before and it’s nothing we can’t handle. Most definitely feel like we’re going to pull off the win. We know we have the edge, we’re a little better than them.”
Harlingen High’s defense is loaded with playmakers, including Noah Gonzalez, Ezvyn Zuniga, Nathan Huerta and Christian Luna. Gomez said leadership and love is what makes the defense, and the program, special, and at the center of that is senior defensive tackle Angel Garcia.
“Angel Garcia is a very humble kid. He’s humble but he’s very hungry. That’s who the kids follow,” Gomez said. “He definitely is the heart and soul of our defense. The kids gravitate to him, and that’s the standard he is reinforcing here at HHS and we’re all super proud of him. Leadership is super important and that’s what you’re seeing, is a group of kids that come together as one and form unity through one person, and that’s exciting and that’s what love is.”
Garcia shows his humility by quickly crediting the defense as a whole with being leaders. He praised his teammates for the work they’ve put in all season, despite all the challenges posed by the pandemic, and said the trust they have in each other carries them.
“Honestly, the whole defense is a leader. It’s not just one major guy, it’s everybody together, and that’s how we’ve been doing so good,” Garcia said. “We all know what we have to do, we all trust each other and that’s the main thing, trust in each other. We all know we have to do our assignment, so we’ve been feeling great when we’re out on the field.”
The Cardinals are preparing for a fight against a physical Edinburg North team, but Garcia believes his team will come out on top. He said the Cardinals know how fortunate they are to have this season and this playoff game, and they’re going to make the most out of it.
“We’ve been playing a lot faster than years prior. I’ve been playing since my sophomore year, and there’s a big difference in this defense (and) the mentality of the whole team,” Garcia said. “Last year we couldn’t finish first round, but this year we have the conditioning and we plan on going a lot farther than we did last year and years prior. We’re feeling great, and we’re confident.
“We’re blessed to even have a season at all,” he added. “We shouldn’t be here right now, but I’ve been telling them, ‘Do your best, that’s all we can ask for. Do your best each play, don’t slack off, because it could easily be taken away.’ It was almost taken away from us a couple of weeks ago, so we’re blessed to even have this game and we’re going to give it our all.”