By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Three-plus weeks of preseason football workouts have gone by rather quickly as Rio Grande Valley teams prepare to play their regular-season openers in the coming days.
So far, it’s been a time of demanding two-a-day workouts for the teams under an unrelenting South Texas sun along with some scrimmages designed to gauge their readiness for what’s ahead.
And now, it all begins.
There’s a full slate of football action on tap this week for Brownsville metro-area teams as three games are scheduled Thursday plus six more Friday.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, it’s Weslaco East taking on Rivera at Sams Memorial Stadium, Hanna vs. Edinburg Economedes at Edinburg’s Cats Stadium and Lopez vs. La Joya Palmview at La Joya ISD Stadium.
At 7:30 p.m. Friday, it’s Progreso vs. Porter at Sams, Pace vs. Edinburg Vela at Cats Stadium, Brownsville Veterans Memorial at Donna High, Edinburg North at Los Fresnos, Port Isabel vs. Grulla at Rio Grande City and Raymondville visiting Canales Field to play St. Joseph Academy.
Are the local squads ready? At the moment, that would seem to be the million dollar question.
“I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be,” said Hanna coach Rene Medrano, whose Golden Eagles will be on the road for a season opener for the third time in the last four years. “We know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but I think our players are ready for their first game. They know the games are for keeps now.
“It’s been a good preseason to this point, and now it’s time to show what we’ve got,” Medrano added.
Hanna scrimmaged Weslaco High and PSJA Memorial in preparation for its season opener against Economedes, a 7-4 playoff team of one year ago with four starters back on each side of the ball.
The Eagles certainly haven’t backed away from playing tough season-opening opponents in recent years, but at the same time it hasn’t helped them all that much in the win column. Hanna opened against always tough Sharyland High during each of the past six years at a time when the Rattlers frequently have entered the season as the Valley’s No. 1 team. Before that, Hanna opened two years against Corpus Christi Carroll and then two years against Alice.
Actually, the Eagles’ last victory in a season opener was 2003 against Lopez, when Hanna triumphed 34-20.
Medrano believes playing the kind of tough opponents that best help a team prepare for district is an important part of a season opener. Still, it’s always nice to win.
With that in mind, the Eagles, boosted by the return of Andy Lopez at quarterback from last season’s 4-5 squad, are aware it’s time to display the kind of hustle and desire that will set the tone for the rest of the season, and maybe even end that streak of misfortune in their openers.
“We just need to finish our plays offensively and defensively, and maintain our focus,” Medrano said. “All of that is magnified once the real games begin.
“(Against Economedes,) we’re looking for the players who are going to step up (and perform),” he added. “We want to see consistency for all four quarters.”
Finding those players who are willing to step up and perform plus display a consistency of solid play throughout the game would appear to be the common goal of every team as the regular season gets under way.
There’s an anticipation that is building for how things might go on opening night.
“We’ll find out (if we’re ready) on Friday (against Grulla),” said Port Isabel coach Monty Stumbaugh, whose Tarpons are looking for quite a few replacements to fill in for the departures due to graduation from last year’s 12-1 third-round playoff team. “I think we’ll find out where we’re at pretty soon.
“We want to see who will give all-out effort on every play and play each down like it was their last,” added Stumbaugh, whose team scrimmaged Donna North and Mercedes. “Now that the real games are here, it’s time to crank it up and play at a higher level.
“We feel like we’ve got some kids who can step in and help us out, and that’s a plus. We’re getting to where we need to be. Now it’s a matter of starting to do what we do. We want to get better every week.”
One of the key graduated players to replace is Isaiah Martinez, a three-year starter at QB who was ideally suited to direct the Tarpons’ run-oriented, option offense.
Stumbaugh said the candidates to take over for Martinez are Marco Colorado, Javier Hernandez and Trey Mock.
“(The competition to find the starter is still open) until someone steps up and shows they can lead our offense,” the Tarpons coach said. “We’ve got a lot of spots up for grabs and we’re waiting to see who steps up (to fill them).
“I hope we can get after it and come out on top (Friday with our lineup of new players),” he added. “We always have extremely tough games that are pretty close with La Grulla, and this one’s in Rio Grande City (so that makes it even tougher playing on the road). We just need to keep getting better and more consistent.”
Brownsville Veterans is facing an equally tough challenge on the road by opening its season at Donna High, a 7-4 playoff team in 2013 with three starters back on each side of the ball.
Chargers coach David Cantu said it doesn’t make things any easier knowing that Amonte Bowen, the Redskins’ standout QB, is out with a recently suffered collarbone injury.
“We know when a key player like that who plays a significant role gets hurt, the whole team tends to step it up and wants to win for him,” said Cantu, whose squad scrimmaged PSJA High and La Joya High. “There’s lots of emotion involved, so it’ll be a real tough task for us. What doesn’t change is Donna has a huge line and some very quick, athletic kids. We’ll have our hands full.
“We want to get off to a good start, not just in the game but specifically in the first quarter,” he added. “We remember how we fell behind by a big margin against Port Isabel (in our opener last year during a 47-17 loss), and we don’t want that to happen again.”
With Marcus Castillo, last season’s All-Metro newcomer of the year, returning at QB to join seven other returnees on offense and six on defense, the Chargers are anxious to return to the playoffs after finishing 5-5 in 2013 and barely missing out on the postseason.
“We’re starting to show pretty good balance on offense, and we’re keeping it simple defensively by just concentrating on our tackling techniques so we’ll get better,” Cantu said. “We’re coming around real well.”