NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
WESLACO — Weslaco East quarterback Richard LeFevre has been hearing doubters and naysayers for so long that it’s all white noise to him by now. With 33 passing touchdowns to his name in his three years starting for the Wildcats, his success is hard to argue.
At 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, LeFevre is built like a defensive lineman. Even his coaches acknowledge that, but he’s a quarterback, and that’s the end of that discussion.
“I wasn’t really worried about that. My whole life, I’ve been going through it,” LeFevre said. “It’s not anything new to me. I just wanted to do whatever I can to help the team get a win and to help us get into the playoffs, to not lose that streak or let these seniors down.”
This year was just a little bit special.
During his senior campaign, LeFevre had to take over games in the absence of some of the Wildcats’ top skill players. Roy Pedraza, the team’s leading running back, didn’t have the chance to build on his 1,922-yard season from a year ago. He suffered a season-ending injury during the Wildcats’ win over rival Weslaco High. When backup running back Freddy Gonzalez and all-around speedster J.C. Vargas went down, Weslaco East’s offense had more questions than answers.
The traditionally run-first squad was at a crossroads, but LeFevre’s arm eased worries quickly.
During his first two seasons, he completed 86 of 181 attempts for 1,366 yards and 14 touchdowns. During his senior season, he smashed those stats. He connected on 82 of 161 passes for 1,504 yards and more than doubled his career TD total, throwing 19 in 10 games.
“You get surprises every day,” LeFevre said. “You surprise yourself every chance you get, every opportunity you get. Everything wasn’t all me, I had a lot of great teammates to come up and set up to help me come up with the wins. It really was just a big ol’ team effort.”
Alvaro Medrano, Hector Saenz and Jaime Banuelos have been benefactors of Air East. The trio of Wildcats senior receivers has combined for 1,015 receiving yards and nine TDs as top receiver Vargas worked to get back into game shape.
Vargas will be in action in Weslaco East’s bi-district game against PSJA High at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Pharr.
Seeing Weslaco East throw the ball more than rush was different, and it may have helped the team string together four consecutive wins to qualify for the postseason for an 11th straight year.
“Coming in, I knew I had a good quarterback. I don’t think the rest of the Valley believed it,” Weslaco East coach Mike Burget said. “When you lose the players that we did, and he can fill in not only for himself but two or three players that we lost, he filled in for them, too.”
Burget was referring to LeFevre’s ability to carry the football and move the chains for the Wildcats, which has arguably been one of the most entertaining things to watch in RGV football this season. The imposing figure has carried the ball 114 times for 694 yards, and defenders have their hands full trying to bring him to the turf.
Burget said an increase in strength has been a factor for LeFevre. He was benching 225 pounds when he got to Weslaco East as a sophomore, and now he’s up to 325 on the bench press.
“He can throw a ball from the hash mark to the other sideline without putting any air on it,” Burget said.
LeFevre has proven that he can be the go-to option when the team needs a big throw or short yardage — anything to move the chains and keep the defense off the field.
“When it comes to crunch time, he’s going to get the ball. There’s no question about that,” Burget said. “Most coaches want that kid that will go 80 yards, and I want that, too, but Rich don’t bring that. What Rich brings is, ‘I’m going to make 4, to 6, to 8 yards, and when you tackle me, you’re going to feel it.’ I’ve seen it all year long. Opponents take a while to get up.”
During Week 11 against Brownsville Hanna, LeFevre showed his ability to take over a ballgame late. He went to the air for three scores. And when the game was on the line, the quarterback got it done with his legs. He ran the ball in from 27 yards out, with plenty of contact and broken tackles on the way, to ice the game for the Wildcats.
Hector Saenz, one of his top targets with 15 receptions and 31.4 yards per game during the regular season, had a lot of positives to back his QB.
“He’s a great quarterback all around,” Saenz said. “The ball is always on point. If he’s off, he shakes it off and gets the ball to it. He’s a great leader on and off the field. He’s one of our captains, and everyone looks up to him.”
The doubters are hard to find at this point in the season, and Saenz is convinced that they shouldn’t be surprised.
“Not at all. He’s always had it in him. Since his sophomore season, he had shown it,” Saenz said. “Last year, he showed it, but he didn’t need to show it as much, because Roy and J.C. were with us. But this year, he stepped up a lot, and he’s proved a lot of people wrong.”