MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
After a lackluster district-opening win against San Benito, Hanna rebounded with a better showing at Los Fresnos on Tuesday night.
Hanna head coach Fermin Lucio was pleased with the effort, but the Golden Eagles would fall to the Falcons 57-52 in overtime and drop to 1-1 in the District 32-6A standings with a tough game against the Harlingen South Hawks on tap for tonight at 6 p.m.
“I think we showed up to play,” Lucio said. “But the bottom line is it was a loss. I mean we learn from it and we got better watching the film. Now, all we’re worried about is Harlingen South on our home court. South has a great tradition the last few years and all we’re worried about is hopefully showing up again on our home court on Friday night.”
Lucio also said the 10-game district season makes getting to 2-1 a bigger deal than it would have been in year’s past.
“Our mindset is to worry about every game that’s ahead of us,” he said. “Every Tuesday and Friday we’re preaching that it’s a district championship game and we have to attack it that way. That’s the only game that matters especially in this rapid type of season that’s new for us.”
The Hawks also come feeling somewhat pressured at 1-1 after falling to Harlingen High 42-36 on Tuesday night.
While South head coach Brian Molina doesn’t think there should be cause for alarm, falling under .500 is not ideal.
“Right now, we have our backs against the wall,” Molina said. “I told the team that we don’t have to hit the panic button yet, but every game in this district is big because it’s such a small district race. In three weeks, this thing will be mostly already over. We can’t afford to fall too far behind if we want to have a shot at the playoffs or at a district title.”
The Hawks also understand the stakes in this game are amplified having to try and win a road game at Hanna.
“Every game in this district is going to be big, but anytime you go to Brownsville to play, especially at Hanna, it’s an emotional game,” Molina said. “Coach Lucio does a great job over there and always has them prepared. They have a great fan base and playing in their gym is always tough. We have to go in there with an attitude of trying to get stops, trying to limit them to one shot and trying to focus on some of their key players and see if we can slow them down a little bit.”
Two of those key players for the Golden Eagles are Victor Campos and Issac Iracheta, who scored 13 apiece in Tuesday’s loss at Los Fresnos.
Iracheta and Campos have gotten off on the right foot this district season after scoring 14 and 13, respectively, against San Benito, but Lucio said they have capable players all over their roster.
“Our team is best when we’re all sharing the ball,” he said. “The good thing on this team is we don’t have just one guy we need to rely on. At different moments, different guys come up, whether it’s been Victor, whether it’s been Issac, Cristian Torres, Fernie Camacho or Bryan Duran. We have a couple of guys who do different things for us and help us win games.”
TARPONS AT HALFWAY POINT
The Port Isabel Tarpons meet the Progreso Red Ants on the road at 8 p.m. tonight to close out the first round of District 32-4A play.
The Tarpons currently sit at 5-1, with their only loss coming at the hands of Hidalgo last week.
Still, head coach Mike Hazelton says finishing Round 1 of district 6-1 isn’t a given after a slew of close games.
“What I expected is happening,” he said. “Every game is a struggle; it’s a fight. I mean it’s pretty competitive out there. You can’t really overlook anyone. People look at Progreso and they lost to Grulla by four and they had Raymondville down by nine in the fourth. They are a team that people perceive as being the easiest out and they’re not. We’ve had scraps like every game. We’re fortunate right now to have just one loss.”
After Progreso on Friday, the Tarpons will head to Raymondville for the district rematch.
The Tarpons won the first game 66-57 in Port Isabel.
“We split with Raymondville last year,” Hazelton said. “They’re pretty much the same team, just a year older and probably more settled down. We had a good scrap with them during the first game at our place and it’s tough to win over there. They’re scrapping and fighting for everything also.”