By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
It seems like it’s been an eternity since the Rivera Raiders lost a football game.
In fact, one would have to turn the calendar back to Oct. 4 — a 42-24, Week 6 loss to Brownsville Veterans Memorial — to find their last defeat.
While it may be natural to look toward the field for the answer to the Raiders’ turnaround, the sideline can’t be ignored.
The coach oversees the entire operation, has a large influence on player development and makes the final call on the game plan, but on his wing are the coordinators, the specialists who put the plan into action.
“(The coordinators) are extremely important,” coach Tom Chavez said. “We set up the game plan, and they work real hard putting it together.
“It’s a team effort between the coordinators and myself. We all work together and figure out the game plan, and they implement it to a ‘T’.”
On one side of Chavez, there is offensive coordinator Brian Milam, who has made the proper adjustments to his squad, helping fuel the team’s active seven-game winning streak.
“We changed (the offense) up a little,” Milam said, “but we’ve had this scheme in for the last three years. We felt that our offense needed a change because we weren’t scoring the points that I knew we could score.
“We knew we had to do something to put the ball in our playmakers’ hands. We wanted to get (quarterback Danny Elizondo) running the ball a bit more, and that’s what we did.”
The season started slowly for Rivera, during a five-game losing streak to begin the year, the offense averaged just 18 points per game. Since then, it’s nearly doubled in production, amassing an average of more than 34 points per game during its past seven contests.
But a new scheme doesn’t work if the players aren’t there to execute it. While the offense has been strong from top to bottom, Elizondo and his favorite target, Edward Rubio, have eased the transition to the new offensive model.
“(Elizondo and Rubio) have been playing together since they were sophomores,” Milam said.
“They’ve been out there throwing the ball around all season. They just have a chemistry.
“They know the offense and they know every route that we run. Danny knows that when the chips are down, he’s going to throw the ball to the play-maker.”
Defensive coordinator J.C. Cavazos presides over the other side of the ball.
Like the offense, his defense started shaky as well, allowing an average of just more than 30 points per game during the first five games. Since then, it has shaved nearly 10 points per game off that number.
However, the tough competition during the non-district schedule — all three teams the Raiders lost to were eventual playoff teams — hardened Cavazos’ defense.
“Chavez likes to schedule teams that he feels are going to be in the playoffs later on in the year,” he said. “I think playing a tough non-district schedule gets us ready for a district run.
“We played pretty solidly ever since the Sharyland game. We had a real good game defensively against Sharyland, and then after that things just started to pick up for us.”
Cavazos is assisted by defensive line coach Edward “The Wall” Garcia and secondary coach Ruben Cardenas. Both have helped to transform the defense into what it is today.
“It’s been a team effort,” Cavazos said. “I think our secondary has improved by leaps and bounds over last year. Last year a lot of times we’d get hurt by the big play. This year we’ve kind of eliminated the big plays.
“These youngsters have hung in there all year long,they’re kind of like a bend-but-don’t-break type of defense.”
The Raiders — advancing to the regional round for the second time in school history — face a tough opponent in San Antonio Northside Brandeis. Both sides of the ball will need to work harmoniously Friday if Rivera hopes to make history.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.