BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — A season ago, the PSJA North Raiders morphed from a struggling, winless team into a contender for a district title. The catalyst for the turnaround was the implementation of the spread offense under first-year coach Jorge Pena.
“It was a learning curve for them,” Pena said of his athletes. “This school ran the wide-t for 20 years. These kids weren’t even born yet when they started running that system.”
With the new offensive scheme came points and plenty of them. The Raiders averaged 28.3 points per game, third highest in District 31-6A, and scored more than 30 points on six occasions. With eight returning starters on offense, Pena sees something in his roster that was lacking a year ago.
“There’s confidence and maturity,” he said. “You can see it. They don’t look lost or scared anymore. They know what they’re doing and they know what’s expected of them.”
Under center for the high-powered Raiders offense is senior George Olivarez, who threw for 753 regular season yards and rushed for 980, accumulating 18 touchdowns through the air and on the ground. Having excelled at the basics of the spread, Olivarez looks to be challenged with a larger playbook.
“We’ve gotten a lot more plays thrown at us in practice,” Olivarez said. “We’re looking to spread things out more this year. We want people to respect our passing game in addition to our running game.”
If Olivarez and company hope to become a dual-threat offense, taking care of the ball will be paramount, meaning Olivarez will have to help reduce the number of turnovers. Last year, the quarterback threw eight interceptions.
“We’ve got to take care of the ball better,” Pena said. “We’ve got the heavy lifting done. This week, we’ve been focusing really hard on the details: tackling better, better blocking, having better decision making.”
NO STOPPING
Though the Raiders can pile on the points, the team’s defense struggled at times to stop opposing teams. PSJA North allowed 30 or more points on five occasions last season, losing each of those games, including a 49-42 bi-district game against Brownsville Rivera.
“Part of it was our youth,” Pena said of the Raiders’ struggles. “We still had guys learning how to tackle. Part of it was guys getting used to the system. But we’re focused on the smaller things now, like studying film and increasing their football IQ. I expect our defense to be better, certainly.”
TOE THE LINE
Leading the offensive line is senior center Vicente Palacios. PSJA North boasts a line comprised exclusively of upperclassmen, totaling three seniors and two juniors. Pena has lofty goals and expectations for his lineman.
“I think we’ve got the best offensive line in the area,” Pena said. “I’ve been coaching offensive line a long time, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. I think Vicente is going to play college ball. He’s got ‘it.’ He just never stops blocking.”
TOO CLOSE
The Raiders are no strangers to tightly-contested outcomes. Last year, they played seven games decided by eight points or less, winning just twice over PSJA High (14-7) and Weslaco High (14-7). The team has entered camp with a renewed effort to not leave wins on the table.
“We can’t get lazy on ourselves and make those simple mistakes,” Palacios said. “Those things caused us to lose those games. We’re focusing more on not getting tired and making sure we don’t make the same mistakes.”
Check out more stories from The Monitor’s 16-day Two-A-Day Tour:
Weslaco High