Edcouch-Elsa’s Marco Aguinaga Season Highlights
BY DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
ELSA – Sophomore Marco Aguinaga won Edcouch-Elsa’s three-man quarterback competition during August training camp because of his poise. He displayed a cool calm playing the sport’s most intense position.
But the game of football was just that to Aguinaga, a game. When he left the field, he often went home to take care of his siblings while his mother Daniella, a single parent, was at work. Or he was waking up on days he was free to work 9-10 hours in the grueling Valley heat.
That responsibility has been a trait of Aguinaga’s almost all of his life, the man of the house because of an absentee father. It’s what helped Aguinaga burst onto the varsity football scene by throwing for 1,108 yards and nine touchdowns while running for 818 yards and 12 more TDs in leading an inexperienced Edcouch-Elsa team to a 6-5 record.
That success is why Aguinaga is the 2014 RGVSports.com All-Valley Newcomer of the Year.
“You have to credit the home environment,” E-E coach Joe Marichalar said. “His mom has him on a short leash. He’s a humble kid, very respectful. He has the worker’s mentality.
“He knows he needs to work to get something in return, and his mom has a lot to do with it.”
Aguinaga was born in Detroit, Michigan, but Daniella moved the family back to the Valley when Aguinaga was 9 following the divorce from his father. Daniella had family in the Valley, where she lived when she was little, and wanted a new start.
Marco aided that. He watches over his brother and sister when Daniella works and he has a job with a local landscaping business whenever he’s not playing football, basketball or competing in track and field for the Yellowjackets.
“He tells me, ‘Mom, don’t worry about it. I’ve got money,’” Daniella said. “He’ll buy his own school clothes, he’ll use it to hang out with friends. He’s just a good kid. He knows not to get into trouble because he knows how much he can lose and how much it would upset me.”
Aguinaga plays for Daniella. Despite living in the same city when Aguinaga was a child, his father never made an effort to build a relationship. Aguinaga’s father recently started to establish communication with Aguinaga because of his football prowess, Daniella said, but there is no question who remains the signal-caller’s priority.
“Growing up as a single parent, she raised four kids on her own,” Aguinaga said. “I look up to her, I look after her. Responsibility is a lot bigger at home. Taking care of my brother and sister while my mom is at work is a lot more work than playing high school football.”
That big-picture perspective eased Aguinaga’s confidence in playing the prime role for one of the Valley’s most storied programs.
It was a Week 3 overtime win against Edinburg North that Aguinaga broke through. His first touchdown of the game with 2:20 left in regulation snapped a scoreless game. Then Aguinaga scored the tying TD on a 25-yard run in overtime, and earned the win by running in the 2-point conversion following a dramatic 45-minute lightning delay.
“When that happened, it was like, ‘OK. We’re doing something right,’” Marichalar said. “That moment let everybody breathe a bit and we knew we were doing the right thing for the team.”
Aguinaga noted decision-making as the biggest improvement in his game, and now that QB1 appears to be his for good, he’s ready for the next chapter. Who knows what lies next for a young man who plays in the school’s varsity mariachi group as an extracurricular activity, as skilled with the violin as he is with the football.
“I just played my tail off,” Aguinaga said. “I didn’t care about anything else. I just wanted to show what I could do, and I’m proud of the outcome. I thought I could do even better, but I’m still just a sophomore. I’ve got two more years and I’ll step it up.”