By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Rivera is still winless and looking for answers to finish the season strong.
The Raiders will try to find them and get their first win of the season when they play host to Harlingen South in a District 32-6A game at 7 p.m. Thursday night at Sams Memorial Stadium.
“We’ve struggled, no doubt about it, but there are the same kids that we started off with during two-a-days,” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said. “We just have to keep working hard and try to straighten it out. We all realize the situation right now, we’re just continuing to be positive, have a positive attitude and try to put it all together.
“We’re going to continue working to try to win a game.”
But don’t tell Harlingen South coach Lanny Wilson about the Raiders’ struggles. He knows their record doesn’t mean anything with the same football coach on the sidelines.
“Coach Chavez is dangerous, he’s a tough guy to coach against, he’s going to have his guys ready to play,” Wilson said. “This is a must-win for both of us if we want to get into the playoffs, so I expect a tough one. Last year, I believe they were 0-5 and went three rounds deep, so you can’t count Coach Chavez out, you can’t count Rivera out.”
Offensively, Rivera has struggled with finding the right combination at quarterback. Chavez said he is sticking with Angel Tolentino under center for the remainder of the season. Tolentino was the starter in Week 1 and remained until a few weeks ago when Oscar Gonzales was moved up the depth chart. Now Tolentino is back at quarterback as the Raiders try to get that first win.
Turnovers have been the ire of Chavez this season, as the Raiders’ offense has continued to hurt itself.
“We need to stop making mistakes, stop turning the ball over,” he said. “We need to control the football a little bit better, make first downs and score some points. If we don’t score points, we’re putting our defense in a bad situation. We have to score points and make them earn their points, instead of giving them easy points.”
The Hawks haven’t been unscathed by turnovers, which have also cost them in a few games this year.
“We need to move the football, take care of the ball, watch turnovers,” Wilson said. “We’ve been in some close games and we’ve had some mistakes that costs us those games.”
Even though it’s been a short week, both coaches have tried to continue to get better as the district season winds down.
“We do a few things different, just work a little bit longer,” Wilson said. “You get the same amount of work done, you just have to be smarter about it. We’ve been working hard, like we do each week, but we look forward to going out and playing a good game.”
The Raiders continue to work toward that first victory, but know that the Hawks are as good as anyone even if their record doesn’t reflect that.
“We’re just trying to get everybody going in the same direction,” Chavez said. “Be positive and keep on working, we’re not giving up for sure, we’re still working hard. All these games are tough. They represent a challenge to us, and we just have to be ready for that challenge.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.