BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
Edcouch-Elsa coach Joe Marichalar has had ample time for reflection following the Yellow Jackets’ 14-13 nail-biter against La Joya Juarez-Lincoln in Week 4. According to Marichalar, the game should have never gotten to that point.
“There were some things that we should have capitalized on to open up the lead a little more, but for whatever reason, we didn’t get that done,” Marichalar said. “Give credit to Juarez-Lincoln for fighting until the end, but in our case, it shouldn’t have gone that far.”
Marichalar says the Yellow Jackets need to learn to not just hold onto a lead once they have it, but to build on it, as well.
“It’s one word: focus,” Marichalar said. “We need to do a better job of staying focused. That’s my job as the head coach: to do a better job of maintaining the focus level of the kids and the coaches. I need to make sure the urgency is there at all times, because it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. The urgency needs to be there no matter what.”
The Yellow Jackets (2-1) will play their second Thursday night game of the season when they begin district play against Donna North (0-3). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bennie LaPrade Stadium in Donna.
“Just mentioning the word ‘district’ will get us in a different mood and mindset during practice,” Marichalar said. “We break our schedule into three pieces and make three seasons out of it. First, we’ll have the preseason, and now we’re in the midseason or district season. We’ll take it one week at a time in order to make the third part of the schedule: the postseason. Everything’s for real now.”