MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland Pioneer couldn’t waste a day. Not as a first-program, it couldn’t. So while having to share a facility with rival Sharyland High before the start of the season, Diamondbacks coach Jason Wheeler had to think of creative ways to bring his team up to speed.
On days that the Rattlers occupied the weight room, Wheeler filled 10-foot-long pipes with water or gravel, and had his Pioneer players lifting and curling on a corner of the practice field at Richard Thompson Stadium.
People walking by “were probably like, ‘What the hell are they doing there?’” Wheeler said. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, we need more than two days a week to lift.’”
The added practice and spring ball have given the program “a fighting chance,” Wheeler said, and it is part of the reason why they’ve avoided going winless in one of the more competitive districts in the Valley. Instead, the Diamondbacks (3-5, 1-3) got off to a 2-0 start and are in the hunt for the fourth and final playoff spot in District 31-5A.
“We’ve had some disappointing losses,” Pioneer quarterback Alejandro Ramirez said, “but I think we’ve gotten better game by game. The last few weeks we’ve grown team chemistry and we’re learning what it takes.”
Like most players at Pioneer, Ramirez had plenty to get acclimated with this season. Outside of linebacker Joe Garza, who transferred from Sharyland High, no other Diamondbacks player had started a varsity game before, much less played in one.
Pioneer has had its share of growing pains, no doubt. It beat Valley View 28-7 in the district opener, but lost 24-0 the following week to an injury-depleted Rio Grande City squad in a game that the Diamondbacks were favored to win.
Having lost to Edinburg Vela and Mission Veterans in the ensuing weeks to extend its losing streak to three games, Wheeler has tried to extract positives in those losses — something they could use in the final weeks of their inaugural season to kickstart the team.
“When you think about it, we’re facing top 10 teams in the Valley (that play) in our district,” Wheeler said, chuckling. “When you play those teams and have some success (in stretches of the game), you’re going to have some confidence.
“That’s why I told our kids, ‘When we play (Mission) Vets, when we play Vela or Sharyland, you think they’re going to want to get beaten by a first-year program?’ They’re like, ‘No.’ ‘So let’s get out there and have some fun,’ because when we do good things and get some momentum, it’s going to affect them a little bit more.”
Outside of any confidence issues, the Diamondbacks needed time to blend. It took almost a half-season to get there. Doing that helped players build trust.
“And when you do that, you could relax and play,” Wheeler said. “And right now, I think we’re a close-knit team.”
Through it all, Garza has emerged as a leader. As a sophomore, he totaled the third-most tackles last year on a Sharyland High team loaded with talent and seniors. Now, he’s being asked to have a louder voice on this young team.
“Coach expects me to be the leader, of course, and I want to be a leader,” Garza said.
Garza has grown into that role, so much in fact that Ramirez called him “the rock of this team.”
“His varsity experience, he makes a big impact on the team and he completes this team,” the quarterback said.
From the beginning, the Diamondbacks have had their sights set on the postseason. And while they’ll have a better idea of where they stand by the end of next week, Wheeler has had to balance that goal while thinking of the long-term good of his program.
“When you’re building a program, you try to establish your program, your values and your routines and discipline and all that,” he said. “You want to make sure you’re laying the foundation. It’s like when you’re building a house, you lay concrete first.
“This year, I feel like we’re just pouring concrete. Hopefully if we get a good slab, we get in the playoffs, maybe we’ll start laying some bricks and then next year maybe we could start raising this thing up and maybe winning a district championship and making a serious run in the playoffs.”