By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Lopez and Hanna, which are each coming off emotionally charged games, are set to meet, and St. Joseph Academy returns to San Antonio to face St. Anthony’s in Week 8.
The Lobos, who broke their long losing streak, and the Golden Eagles, who are coming off another tight district loss, are set to see which team can refocus quicker at 7 p.m. Saturday night in a District 32-6A game at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Bloodhounds are on the road again and face TAPPS Division I, District 2 foe San Antonio St. Anthony’s at 2 p.m. at Lang Field in San Antonio.
The Lobos and Eagles come into this game slightly drained emotionally from last week.
But both coaches were sure the focus was on the next opponent.
“We can’t drop our guard, we have to prepare and move forward. There’s a lot of football left and things left to be done,” Hanna coach Rene Medrano said. “We can’t look in the past, we have to look forward.”
Lopez coach Jason Starkey agreed that his team looked forward.
“It was great that we had that success, but we tried to turn the page,” he said. “I think the kids did a good job of focusing on Hanna.”
But Starkey felt that emotion would play a part in this week’s game as well.
“They played three very tough district opponents, and they played them very close,” he said. “I think emotional is the key word of this game. The team that can handle their emotions and play focused, sound football fundamentally is going to have the best opportunity to be successful.”
On offense, Lopez has been better each week, and Hanna brings the top passer in the district in Andy Lopez.
“(The Lobos) had a solid game against Rivera, they’re clicking,” Medrano said. “We have to dig in. We have to execute, stay with our game plan and see what happens.”
The Lobos’ game plan is all about the Hanna quarterback.
“To slow them down it’s key, their quarterback is going to be a difficult task,” Starkey said. “He’s one of the most gifted quarterbacks in our district. We’d like to contain him, we don’t want him to go off like he’s very capable of doing, not letting No. 1 (Lopez) beat us all night long with his arm.”
The teams will see which can harness in its emotions, but as the old saying goes, when two Brownsville schools compete against each other, expect the unexpected.
“You put two Brownsville schools together and it’s worth the price of admission, that’s for sure,” Medrano said.
As for the Bloodhounds, they seek a 2-0 start to district after opening with a 69-34 win over San Antonio Christian last week.
“They have some very talented players, including a big, strong, fast running back,” St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said. “We’ve traditionally had some trouble slowing down the run. It’s something we’ve been working on all week.”
The offense will be a key for both teams.
“We definitely like to run the ball,” St. Anthony’s coach Eddie Moreno said. “We have to control the clock and make sure we can keep their offense off the field as much as possible. It’s a ground attack for us, move the chains up the field and try to put one or two in the end zone.”
Villarreal knows the offense needs to get off to a good start.
“We have to get our offense on the field,” he said. “If we can’t stop (their running back), it keeps (St. Joseph quarterback) Kai Money on the sideline. That’s what’s propelled us to our last two wins, we were able to get up quick, and that’s going to be a key this weekend.”
That, and which defense can contain the opponent’s offensive unit.
“Our defense is going to have their hands full with No. 12 (Kai Money),” Moreno said. “He’s the Johnny Manziel of our district. We have to get the ball out of his hands if possible.”
The Bloodhounds hope to continue to utilize their ability to get takeaways. They have 28 through six games.
“Turnovers are always going to be a key,” Villarreal said. “(Defensive coordinator) Coach (Christian) Putegnat has been working on some different blitzes and coverages that we haven’t tried yet.”
But St. Joseph doesn’t want to rely on its opponent’s mistakes.
“I don’t like that kind of football,” Villarreal said. “We are looking to our defense and special teams to give us opportunities. But we have to make (offensive) opportunities for ourselves.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.