By Jesus Sanchez | The Brownsville Herald
Tasked with having to overcome injuries throughout the season, the road has not been easy for the Rivera Raiders, who have yet to get a win in their 2018 campaign.
The Raiders will have another shot at redemption at 7:30 p.m. today at Sams Memorial Stadium when they battle the La Feria Lions in a non-district game.
“We’ve had some injuries that put us in a (difficult) situation right now,” Rivera head coach Tom Chavez said. “We’re going to try to fill up the team, keep going and working hard and get ready for La Feria. I know La Feria is a really good football team. I think in their district, they’re one of the top schools for sure, so we have our work cut out for us.”
Last week, Rivera suffered a 43-14 loss to Sharyland Pioneer.
The Raiders are currently trying to figure out a game plan to work around their injuries, including quarterback Ariel Gonzalez and their junior varsity backup, who both are hurt.
Chavez said the team must put that behind them and take one game at a time in order to keep moving forward in the season.
“We’re just preparing for another game, trying to get better on what we’ve been doing and overcome some mistakes that we’ve made and overcome some injuries that we’ve had,” he said. “We’re just trying to get better every week.”
A key player the Raiders can turn to this week will be wide receiver Elian Hernadez, who Chavez described as a consistent playmaker.
Regardless of the injuries and setbacks, Chavez said the Raiders will not give up and fight till the end.
“These guys are just continuing to work hard, not quitting and trying to get a win like everybody else,” the Rivera coach said.
The Lions are no strangers to having injuries affect the team, either.
Although it could have been a big setback for La Feria, the Lions have managed to pull through and overcome every obstacle in front of them.
“We’ve had a couple of injuries that we’ve had to overcome being late in the year but overall we’re doing pretty well,” La Feria head coach Oscar Salinas said. “We had a good week at practice and I think our kids are ready to compete against a 6A school.”
La Feria battled Port Isabel in Week 4 and one play from the Lions was all it took to defeat the Tarpons 21-14.
Avishai Dickerson was a key player for La Feria, rushing for 134 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries.
“So far, he’s done a good job not only running the ball but in the pass protection,” Salinas said.
The Lions will look to extend their undefeated streak against Rivera in today’s matchup and although they have not been perfect, the Lions’ goal is to improve before district play, the La Feria coach said.
“There are still a lot of things that they felt they could’ve done a little bit better to play a better game,” Salinas said. “Our mentality is to get better as a team and get ready for district and go out there and play a lot better than they did last week.”
Offensively, the coach said La Feria’s receiving core is looking to do better.
Defensively, the Lions will continue to put the pressure on any team in efforts to force turnovers and errors.
Overall, La Feria is looking to get more wins as district play approaches.
“We just have to prepare for district because it’s coming up pretty soon,” Salinas said. “We’re looking forward to a tough match against Brownsville Rivera. Coach Chavez, he’s a legendary Brownsville coach. We know he’s going to have his team ready and we’re going to have to be ready to go to try to beat them.”