BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MERCEDES — In one way or another, most human beings have waged war with time. Most — save for a special few — can’t participate in every activity that interests them in high school.
Count Jorge Cavazos as one of the special few who can.
“I’ve been doing baseball, powerlifting and track,” Cavazos said.
Those three activities aren’t all he has on his plate. Cavazos is active in his church as an altar server. He is also finishing up an associate’s degree in interdisciplinary studies with plans to pursue a kinesiology degree. He hopes his education will allow him to become a personal trainer or physical therapist.
Cavazos also has his responsibilities as a senior linebacker for Mercedes.
“I try to do as much as I can and keep as busy as I can with any extra time I have,” Cavazos said. “It comes down to personal preference. I believe if you have time to work, well, why don’t you work? If you’re sleeping, there’s someone else out there that’s working harder than you. I want to be that person that’s working harder than everybody else.”
Officially, 2017 is Cavazos’ second full season of varsity football for the Tigers, but his love for the sport runs deep into his childhood.
“I’ve been playing since I was in TYFA (Texas Youth Football Association),” Cavazos said. “And I’ve known a lot of my teammates since I was in the fifth or sixth grade. They aren’t just my teammates. They are my brothers.”
Cavazos has seen his role grow exponentially after starting outside linebacker Roger Adame III suffered a broken arm in the second half of Mercedes’ season-opening loss against Corpus Christi Calallen on Sept. 1. The injury is expected to keep Adame III out of live action for the next several weeks.
While Adame III gets back to full strength, Cavazos has stepped in and provided a spark. In the Tigers’ 27-20 win at McAllen Rowe last week, Cavazos recorded seven solo tackles, including his first career varsity sack.
“Jorge is a player that wants to know every possible scenario and situation he could find himself in on the field,” Mercedes coach Roger Adame Jr. said. “As a coach, those are the kinds of players that you want to have, because they want to be coached and will spend hours in the film room breaking down film and translate what he learns onto the field.
“He’s worked extremely hard and is very confident in his abilities. He put himself in a situation exactly like this where, if his number was called, he would be ready to go out there and play well.”
Adame Jr.’s idea in starting Cavazos after his son went down to injury was to replace one leader of the Tigers defense with another.
“It is an opportunity,” Cavazos said. “If I’m not helping on the outside, I’m an inside linebacker, too, and I know all the coverages. I just want to be an all-around player and play whatever position they need me to.”
Mercedes (1-1) will take the field at Tiger Stadium against historic rival Weslaco High (1-0) at 7:30 tonight. The game will be only the fourth meeting between the schools since the 2010 season.
The Tigers still have a bitter taste in their mouths after losing to the Panthers 21-6 last season. If it was time to turn the tables on Weslaco, who better to know than Mercedes’ deterrent against time itself: Jorge Cavazos.
“This rivalry is a big deal,” Cavazos said. “I have some of my best friends over there (in Weslaco). It’s a bigger rivalry game for us, because they are a much larger school in a larger city.
“We’re not a small school that stays in the shadows. We’re one that puts in the work.”