By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The Lopez Lobos and the Harlingen South Hawks haven’t had the start to the season, nor the district, as each would have liked.
Each squad will try to even its District 32-6A record when they meet tonight at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The Lobos (0-4, 0-1) and Hawks (1-3, 0-1) have turned their focus to improving from within their own ranks in hopes of improving on the field.
“We’re focusing on things we can control and keeping our attention to what’s in front of us, not what’s behind us,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “Our message to these kids is we’re close, and it’s always darkest before the light. Nobody wants to start the season 0-4. We have a lot to play for and we are 0-1 like three other teams in our district.”
Turnovers have been a problem this season for Harlingen South and Lopez.
“We need to put together a complete game and eliminate some of the mistakes that we’ve made,” Harlingen South coach Lanny Wilson said about the Hawks turnover woes.
The Lobos have even made it a point of emphasis during this week’s preparations for Harlingen South.
“(We need to) take care of the football. We had five turnovers against Los Fresnos,” Starkey said. “We need to eliminate turnovers, and we have to create turnovers defensively.”
Both teams have rosters that are filled with youth and inexperience. To make matters worse, the injury bug also has bitten the Hawks.
“We just need to continue to get better, both of us have young teams,” Wilson said. “We lost almost all our starters and most of starters were on the JV last year, so we’re trying to get better.”
Starkey knows it’s going to take some time for his team to gain experience.
“It’s really about things you can control and things you can’t,” he said. “It’s not letting things outside of your control affect the ones you can control. These kids are starting to get that, buying into that.”
Each squad will try to eliminate giveaways and control the ball on offense.
“We try to be balanced and do what our kids can execute,” Wilson said. “We’ll take what Lopez gives us (on defense). If they put a lot of people in to stop the run, we’ll throw some, and if they don’t, then we’ll run the football.”
The Lobos will counter with a rushing attack led by quarterback Ivan Olivo and running back Felix Nava, but Olivo will throw as needed for the Lopez offense.
Lopez and Harlingen South are staying focused on the present.
“We just need to take it one week at a time,” Wilson said. “We need to try to beat Lopez and then worry about our other opponents one at a time. (We’re) just trying to do our best at practice and see how it ends up.”
Starkey wants his team to believe in itself.
“(Harlingen South) is playing like they expect to win and that’s where I want to see us, playing like we expect to win,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping for. I want to look into the kids’ eyes and know that they expect to win. This week they’ve shown me everything that that’s the case.
“I’m looking for them to play with some passion because it’s homecoming. I think we really have a chance to take a step in the right direction this week.”
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.