Lobos Legacy: Senior RB Slovak leaving mark at Lopez

BROWNSVILLE — Brownsville Lopez head coach Shaun Tarantola felt he had a special player in running back Eddie Slovak the moment he first saw him on the field.

Tarantola, who took over the program in during Slovak’s sophomore year in 2022, said he knew he had to get him on the field immediately, making him the team’s lead back that same season.

Though the team went 1-9 that year, Tarantola’s initial analysis of the then-sophomore seemed to be right, with Slovak rushing for 865 yards and 10 touchdowns on 161 carries.

“Right when I got hired, probably the first day we went out and did football drills I knew I had myself a player in Eddie,” Tarantola said. “I knew right from Day 1 that he was going to have a big role and that we were going to need him to have a big role right away. … Eddie has been a leader on our team for three years now. He’s a quiet leader, but he leads by example. I would say for the past three years he’s probably been the most respected player in our program and that says a lot and it started from Day 1 with Eddie.”

Over the past two years Slovak has continued to trend upward, following up his breakout sophomore campaign with a 1,000-plus rushing yard season as a junior.

Slovak isn’t done just yet.

The third-year starter has saved his best season for last, breaking the 1,000-yard mark in just six games this year, while also becoming the school’s all-time leading rusher last week, breaking a two decade record held by assistant coach Rafael Gonzalez.

More importantly, however, Slovak has his team back in the playoffs for the first time since 2017, while also in the hunt for the school’s first district title since 2001 with two games left in the regular season.

Brownsville Lopez running back Eddie Slovak (22) shakes off a Mercedes defender during a District 16-5A DII contest on Oct. 18 at Tiger Stadium in Mercedes. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)

“I pictured myself getting here,” Slovak said. “I knew training hard and putting in the work every day would eventually lead to something successful.”

Slovak’s evolution comes as no surprise to the three-year letter winner, believing he would become one of the top players in the RGV since stepping onto the field as a sophomore.

Even with defenses game-planning for the senior running back more intensely since his first year, Slovak has continued to shine, eclipsing his yardage total each year.

As a junior, Slovak rushed for 1,164 yards and 11 touchdowns on 203 carries, an uptick of almost 300 yards from his debut campaign.

Slovak is likely to surpass his career-high again this season despite missing two games due to injury, with the Lobos running back on pace for 1,346 yards and 11 touchdowns this year. Slovak sits at 1,009 rushing yards and eight touchdowns this season and 3,038 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns for his career, all while missing just two of a possible 28 games in three years.

Brownsville Lopez running back Eddie Slovak. (Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports)

“The thing about Eddie is that he’s a very smart player and protects the football,” Tarantola said. “Anytime you give him the ball, you have a shot to make something happen. There have been games where we’re facing a third-and-30, and we just try not to do anything stupid, so we hand Eddie the ball and next thing you know it is first down. He has that ability. I think defenses must play us differently to account for him. … We don’t shy from going away from him because we know he’s always going to get the job done consistently.”

Slovak isn’t satisfied with individual marks, however, instead focused on helping the team reach new heights.

After back-to-back 1-9 seasons, the Lobos are back in the postseason for the first time since 2017, with Slovak playing a big-time role in the team’s resurgence.

His next goal in sights – winning a district title – a feat the Lopez have only accomplished once (2001) in their 30-year history.

“It feels really good coming out here with this squad and coaching staff,” Slovak said. “Being able to help us get through everything when we had rough years to now being able to get ready to go to the playoffs. It would mean a lot to bring a district title to Lopez with how much this coaching staff has helped us. They’ve made a big difference in this program. We just need every player to work as hard as they can and not give up. Even if we’re down, we’re going to keep fighting for it.”

A district-title won’t come easy for the Lobos. Standing in the way of a title shot is another ball club experiencing a resurgence of its own in the Brownsville Pace Vikings.

After making the postseason during head coach Daniel Pardo’s first four years at the helm, the Vikings had missed the playoffs each of their last three years before securing a return to the big dance this season.

Paving the way for the Vikings is the RGV’s leading rusher, running back Adrian Sauceda.

Like Slovak, Sauceda has enjoyed a three-year career with the Vikings, rushing for 3,260 yards and 32 touchdowns in 25 career games.

Brownsville Pace running back Adrian Sauceda. (Victor Dominguez | Special to RGVSports)

“I don’t like to take all the shine because I feel like my O-line has had a lot to do with my shine,” Sauceda said. “The coaches too.”

This season has been his best to date, sitting at 1,827 yards and 23 touchdowns on 186 carries in eight appearances. His 228.4 rushing yards per game average has him on pace for a 2,284 rushing yard season.

“We kind of joke around in the locker room because he runs high like Craig Smith from the 49ers. That high stepping kind of guy,” Brownsville Pace head coach Danny Pardo said. “We knew that part of the problem might be fumbles here and there, but we just kind of told ourselves to just leave him alone and let him be him. I think that might have been the best decision we did coming into this year. He’s had a couple of fumbles over the past eight games, but I’ll trade those three fumbles for how many ever thousand yards and touchdowns he has.”

Brownsville Pace running back Adrian Sauceda carries the ball during a District 16-5A DII game against Edcouch-Elsa on Oct. 25 at Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium in Edcouch-Elsa. (Sixtum Pictures | Special to RGVSports)

Like Slovak, the Vikings bell cow is set to make his playoff debut this season, leading Pace to a 6-2 overall record thus far.

Sauceda isn’t complacent with just a playoff appearance, hungry to bring a district title to the Vikings for the first time since 1983.

“It feels good to be in this position,” Sauceda said. “Last year Lopez and us weren’t schools that were looked upon. We both had some bad seasons the past years. This year things have changed for both of our schools.”

Neither team controls its district title destiny heading into Week 10, both sitting behind Edcouch-Elsa (6-2, 3-0) in the league standings.

Thursday’s matchup against one another is key to both teams district title chase, with the winner keeping their district title hopes alive heading into next week’s regular season finale.

For the Lobos, defeating Pace puts them in position to play for at least a share of the district title during their regular season finale against Edcouch-Elsa next week.

Meanwhile, a Vikings victory leave a slim hope for a district title alive, needing the Lobos to defeat Edcouch-Elsa in their finale to come away with a share of the crown.

Left to right, Brownsville Lopez running back Eddie Slovak and Brownsville Pace running back Adrian Sauceda will lead their teams into a huge district matchup against one another today. (Left, Andrew Cordero | Special to RGVSports; Right, Victor Dominguez | Special to RGVSports)

“It’s good in a sense that now instead of having one school for a playoff spot you have two,” Pardo said. “Then you throw in the word district title and that gets the community really going. That is really what you want. You want the kids and the community to have something to look forward to.”

Kickoff between the Lobos and Vikings is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.

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