GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
PSJA North is rising from the ashes of an 0-10 season, Edinburg North is coming back down to earth after a third-round playoff appearance, and the rest of District 31-6A is somewhere in between.
Weslaco East, the only team to escape non-district play unbeaten, suffered a loss to Edinburg North last week. Weslaco High, expected by many to be the district’s team to beat, lost its opener to PSJA North. And PSJA Memorial, the eighth-place finisher in District 31-5A last year, started district play with a win against an Edinburg Economedes team coming off a playoff berth.
It all adds up to a wide open District 31-6A and puts extra emphasis on the matchup between Edinburg North and PSJA North at 7 Thursday at PSJA Stadium. Whichever team wins will be the district’s first 2-0.
“You look at the teams in our district, and they’re all competitive,” Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz said. “Any team, in my opinion, in our district, can beat any other team on any given night. I don’t think there’s a for sure, ‘OK, check this one off.’”
North has the advantage of already checking off the team that looked the strongest heading into last week: Weslaco East.
“Knowing that we were going up against East, and that they were undefeated coming in, of course it was probably the biggest challenge of all the other schools in our district, just because of the record,” Saenz said.
For North, the key to the 36-35 double-overtime win was the strength of the offensive line, which is coming together as a unit after replacing four starters from last year.
The game was also a return to form for running back Matt Whitesides, who picked up 203 yards on 21 carries and looked like the same back who racked up 1,621 yards last season.
“That was crucial,” Saenz said. “I had spent some time talking to him and really just said, ‘Where is the old Whitesides at?’ We used to see a guy who would hit the line, he was going downhill. He’s a downhill runner. And a lot of times, we would kind of see him put the brakes on and dance around in the backfield. That wasn’t his style.”
Unfortunately for the Cougars, the old Whitesides isn’t going up against the old PSJA North defense.
Coach Jorge Peña has brought major changes to the PSJA North program and made the players forget all about last year’s 0-10 season. The playing field is level, and the Raiders are as much of a contender as anybody.
“Everybody is about equal — anybody can beat anybody,” Peña said. “We realize that it is a tough task, but these kids don’t think about (0-10) anymore. Right now, they’re feeling very confident. Last year was last year. We don’t think about it much.”