BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — As a junior last season, Roma right winger Jesus Elizondo barely played. He was expecting to take on a significant role after playing on varsity as a sophomore, but that plan was derailed at last year’s Mission Tournament.
He suffered a sprained ankle and never got back to 100 percent, consistently dealing with sprains in both ankles.
“I was injured pretty much for the whole season,” Elizondo said, “so I’m trying to make it a good season this year.”
The entire Roma team has high hopes, returning eight starters to a senior-laden group that reached the playoffs after a 7-3 finish in district last year.
Their run at the Mission Eagles Invitational opened with four consecutive losses, but the group finally broke through in its final chance on Friday, beating McAllen High 2-0 at Tom Landry Stadium, the same field where Elizondo’s season basically ended the year before.
“We’ve been having a tough tournament,” Elizondo said. “We haven’t found our playing style yet, but it will get here.”
Developing a style and a rhythm will take some time for Roma, which is adjusting to a new coach in Alexander Saenz, an assistant from last year’s team taking the place of the departed Joe Cortez.
Elizondo said the Gladiators are using a different system, and players are training at multiple positions.
“It’s a new project we have with a new set of coaches,” Elizondo said. “But we’ve known them since we were little. Since we were in middle school. So I think things are working out great.”
Coach Saenz has the advantage of working with an experienced group and some established talent. Midfielder Mario Rios, defenders Jose Hinojosa and Eric Sandoval and forward Norberto Ibarra all figure to be key.
In Friday’s win against McHi, Roma gave a few younger bench players a chance to shine, and Elizondo said he was impressed with the freshmen.
Victor Peoloyo scored Roma’s first goal on a free kick, and Sebastian Alaffa added the second in the closing minutes, taking a deliberate approach on a penalty kick and grounding it cleanly into the left side of the net.
“Anyone can come in, and the team plays just as well,” Elizondo said. “There’s a lot of competition between us. That’s always positive.”
Despite keeping the pressure high and appearing to be in control for the majority of the game, McHi had a harder time coming away with positives. A playoff team after posting a 12-4 record in district play last season, the Bulldogs got off to a promising start with a 2-1 Day 1 but skidded in losing their final two matches on Day 2, ultimately sealing their elimination.
On a day in which most teams scurried out of the stadium to avoid rainy conditions and temperatures in the 40s, McAllen High coach Fernando Segovia had no interest in leaving. Instead, McHi took up a position on the track, running back and forth in 25-yard intervals for about 25 minutes. By the time Segovia cleared his team out of the stadium, the next game of the tournament was already in the second half.
Segovia declined to comment.