KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN—Harlingen South ended their camp on a strong note and there is plenty of optimism that the Hawks can be right in the mix for a postseason berth and even a district title.
On Friday, the Hawks hosted McAllen Memorial, which has been one of the Rio Grande Valley’s perennial powers over the past decade. The Hawks defense made a strong case with their first group and limited the Mustang offense for most of the night.
South’s defense, which is in their second year of a new defensive scheme, looked more comfortable and flew to the ball and made tackles all evening.
“This is one thing we talked about when we came in to tonight, that this was our last practice before it all starts to count,” said Hawks coach Brian Ricci. “To me, scrimmages are practices, this is what gets us ready for our first contest and that’s Friday night. The defense did really well; this is the second scrimmage in a row were they did well. McAllen Memorial always does a good job and always has a lot of speed, more speed than we will see anywhere else. We were able to limit them to no big plays.”
Despite losing Isaac Moreno and Caleb Solis to graduation, the secondary will be led by hard-hitting junior David Cortez and senior corner Kike Alvarado. The Hawks will rely on their speed and is something the Hawks haven’t had in the past.
“Right now, we feel great, I love the way our defense is playing,” Cortez said. “We are firing on all cylinders We are playing with an intensity that I haven’t seen before.”
Both the offense and defense went one drive each in the live portion of the scrimmage. The Hawks defense forced a three-and-out and wrapped up the night for the starters.
“We are communicating on the field and our bond that we created over the summer has helped us,” Cortez said. “We were able to carry that over into the season. This is the fastest defense I have been a part of and I love it. Everyone, all 11 guys, are flying around to the ball.”
On offense, senior quarterback David Torres returns under center and is fully healthy after an elbow injury he suffered last season. Torres took the off season to recover and is right where he needs to be with running the Hawks offense.
“During the offseason it was about me heeling and taking it slow and preparing for my senior year,” Torres said. “The team worked hard all off season, I was there watching them bust their butts and now once I got healed I was able to catch up with the guys.”
During the live portion, Torres hooked up with his trusty target Brady Bennett, who is also a senior and had a strong off season and camp, to cap off an 11-play scoring drive by hitting Bennett for a touchdown.
“That was a good drive,” Ricci said. “During the controlled part, we really don’t get any momentum. It’s more of us wanting to get certain plays in to where we can correct them on film. That live quarter is how we like to play. We went fast, got a good tempo and we controlled the speed of the game. We executed, got some good throws and had some good runs overall — it was a good drive.”
The Hawks will open the regular season at home on August 30 at 7:30 p.m. against Edinburg High.