By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
It’s been a fast rise for IDEA Frontier, and the hope is a fast style of play can keep that going.
IDEA Frontier is looking to make back-to-back postseason trips for the first time in six seasons of varsity play.
To do that, the Chargers will need to navigate a tough District 32-3A that includes Santa Rosa, ranked 24th in TABC’s Class 3A poll, and a slew of other teams gunning for the district’s four playoff spots.
The key for the Chargers is playing as fast as possible.
“(The offense is) fast-paced, it’s quick,” IDEA Frontier coach Jerry De la Garza said. “We like to get at our opponents with our press. We like to run. We like to transition. The majority of our points come off turnovers.”
The team’s run-and-gun style of play helps offset its lack of height compared to the rest of the district and will help IDEA Frontier in a postseason push.
“When we play other teams from our district, they have size,” De la Garza said. “So in the playoffs, we’re going to meet teams that are a lot bigger than were are. We use our speed to compete with them, so the boys’ speed kills them. They condition, they join cross country. They’re in shape, and they’re ready to go back to basketball pace.”
Juniors Marcos Arellano, Angel Alanis and Rammy Ramirez lead the Chargers’ quick strike offense.
Arellano plays more like a “Stretch 4” rather than as a traditional post player. Alanis runs the floor as IDEA Frontier’s point guard, and Ramirez is the team’s offensive spark plug at shooting guard.
But the key to success for IDEA Frontier is its on-ball pressure on defense, De la Garza says.
“They’re on the ball,” he said. “They don’t give anybody space. They’re on the ball the whole time, during the game. As soon as they get the ball, we’re looking to attack. If we don’t have an open layup, we’ll set up the offense. If not, we’re attacking the offense.”
“It picks up our momentum, so as soon as we pick the pace in our games we tend to score a lot of points,” Alanis said. “Scoring a lot of points builds momentum in our team and gets us going.”
IDEA Frontier sits at 1-5 (11-14 overall) in District 32-3A, just ahead of Edinburg IDEA Quest (0-5) for fourth place and a playoff spot.
The win-loss record isn’t exactly what the team planned for this season, but the Chargers still have a positive outlook when it comes to making a postseason bid at the end of the season.
“It’s hasn’t been going positive, but for sure, for sure, we’ve got this,” Arellano said. “The season isn’t over yet, and for sure we’re focused on the next game. It’s one game at a time. Soon enough, we’ll be back on top at the end of the season.”
“We’re not worried because we know that together, we’ve had some pretty good games and we’ve had hard times but we’re going to overcome that,” Ramirez added. “The confidence comes from within the brotherhood. We don’t let each other (get) down, and we won’t.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.