BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | THE MONITOR
ALAMO — PSJA Memorial junior quarterback Orlando Muñoz learned he has a good arm when he was horsing around with his brother.
“Whenever I would get mad at my brother, I would throw rocks,” Muñoz said. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow. I have an arm.’”
Muñoz started playing football in seventh grade. At Alamo Middle School, he found a team full of players who would change his life forever. Many of the boys on his team at Alamo still share a locker room with Muñoz to this day at PSJA Memorial.
The Wolverines are 2-6 overall and 2-3 in District 31-6A. They are locked in a three-team tie for the fourth playoff spot in the district with PSJA North and Edinburg North. The Wolverines host the Cougars at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.
“We know they are a very strong team,” Memorial coach Michael Uribe said. “They have experienced the same things we have. They were in battles with Edinburg High and Vela. We know that they are going to be a formidable opponent with athletes all over and good coaching. So, we are going to have to play good football.”
Starting football wasn’t the most life-changing event of Muñoz’s middle school career. During that time period, his parents divorced.
Muñoz said he hasn’t seen much of his father since the split. He lives with his mother and grandparents in Alamo.
“It’s really tough,” Muñoz said. “We need a man in our life to go over man things.”
He said that’s why football became such a big part of his life so quickly. The gridiron was a place where Muñoz could come and be surrounded by his new family on the football field.
“We are a big family here,” Uribe said. In Week 6, Uribe won the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Inspirational Coach of the Week award. “I love these kids. I genuinely love these kids because of the differences in their personalities, but the collection of how it makes us special”
The football field also led Muñoz to another important figure in his life: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at PSJA Memorial Farrell Williams.
“Coach Williams, I see him as a dad,” Muñoz said. “Freshman year, we would hang out and just study. He helped me a lot.”
Muñoz said Williams often helped him with homework and helped him learn the playbook and understand his position.
“Even during lunch, he would sit with me and go over the plays,” Muñoz said. “He would help me with whatever I needed. He would call me into the office, and we would go over it.”
The hard work they put in together is starting to yield results, as Muñoz has had a good year on the field, completing 105 of 163 passes for a completion percentage of 64.4. He has accumulated 1,048 passing yards and 3 TDs. He has also rushed for 192 yards and a score.
One of the kids he met at Alamo was Joaquin Sanchez, the junior running back for the Wolverines.
“We are super close,” Sanchez said.
“Like peanut butter and jelly,” Muñoz added.
The two are thick as thieves and have spent countless hours together, watching film, studying or just goofing off, they said.
Their bright charisma and general joy for life drew them together. Those attitudes also helped them lean on each other in the tough times.
Last year, PSJA Memorial went winless. 0-10.
“I would talk to (Sanchez) like ‘man, I don’t know if I should do football next year. We are 0-10,’” Muñoz said. “But he kept me into it. He said, ‘Man, we are going to have a better team. Just believe. We will get stronger and faster.’ And he was right.”
Even coming into the year, the team heard all the familiar refrains that mocked the Wolverines.
“People would put ‘0-10 again’ on Twitter,” Muñoz said. “They would say, ‘We want a real rivalry game.’ Those are the things that kept us going.”
Going through the agony of defeat made the elation of victory that much sweeter.
Coming into the year, Memorial hadn’t won a game since Sept. 4, 2015 and hadn’t won a district game since Oct. 10, 2014. So, when the Wolverines opened up their district season with a 17-7 win over PSJA North on Sept. 28, Muñoz couldn’t contain his emotions.
“I started crying,” he said. “I started screaming so loud that I started to get a headache. I didn’t sleep that night.”
Sanchez felt that exuberance, as well, especially after the team beat Edinburg Economedes 24-23 the following week.
“Tears came down,” Sanchez said. “Having that feeling of victory, back-to-back, it was incredible. We are hungry to go to the playoffs.”
Muñoz has developed a good rapport with all of his receivers. Players like senior Michael Walden and junior Juan Oviedo have seen added opportunities to show their skill after the catch thanks to Muñoz’s development. And there is another plucky sophomore who has shined this season: Michael Muñoz. That’s right, the younger brother is still getting things thrown at him, but instead of pebbles, now it’s touchdown bombs.