BROWNSVILLE — On any given game night, Brownsville St. Joseph’s active roster features about 25 players, give or take a few depending on injury.
The Bloodhounds have played up in numbers each week this season yet stand with a 3-0 overall record, the program’s best start since 2016.
St. Joseph, which competes in TAPPS Division II District 3, opened the year with a 34-6 victory at home against Raymondville. One week later, the Bloodhounds took down crosstown rival Brownsville Veterans 41-21 on the road in an upset of the reigning Region IV-5A DI champion Chargers, who are now competing at the Class 6A level.
After going toe-to-toe with the Valley’s best and winning a dogfight, the Bloodhounds played host to Class 5A Corpus Christi Carroll last Friday at Canales Field in Brownsville and pulled off a thrilling 29-28 victory to keep their perfect record intact approaching the midway point of the regular season.
Carroll had nearly 80 players dressed for their game against St. Joseph to just 23 for the Bloodhounds.
“We have a quote that’s in our locker room and they’ve seen it since they were little kids. The mantra of Bloodhound football is, ‘Eleven brothers can’t be beat.’ For me, they can dress out as many as they want, they gotta put 11 out there, and if our 11 are united and they don’t point fingers and they believe in each other, I’ll put my 11 against anybody’s 11 and the rest will take care of itself,” St. Joseph’s 10th-year head coach Tino Villarreal said. “I think these guys put in so much hard work in the offseason. They know we’re ironman football, they know we gotta be the best conditioned team, so all of these things play into the culture of what it means to be a St. Joe Bloodhound.”
Senior athlete Claudio Torres has been on a tear through three games with 678 total yards and nine touchdowns. He scored the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion against Carroll with :35 seconds remaining to help seal the victory.
Junior quarterback Gavin Cisneros hit some big-time throws during the Bloodhounds’ comeback victory over Carroll, and senior offensive/defensive lineman Diego De La Cruz, a University of Texas at El Paso commit, is a wrecking ball in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
“These guys are resilient. They were put in real difficult situations, but they were able to overcome that and get the job done, and that’s a good sign for us in non-district play,” Villarreal said. “You want to be challenged, you want to be put in tough situations, you want to be down at halftime, you want to be down in the third quarter, you want to be down with two minutes left to see how you respond, and they responded to the challenge very well. They kept their poise, they kept their cool and they never stopped believing that the game was in our reach.”
Villarreal sees similarities between this year’s Bloodhounds and the 2016 squad that started the season 3-0. That St. Joseph team was quarterbacked by Kai Money, who went on to play receiver for the Texas Longhorns.
“Their similarities are that they’re super united. They’re like a family, and that allows them to be loose in practice but know they gotta get the job done,” Villarreal said. “They’re able to be relaxed and laugh and joke and play music and dance in practice, and it’s not something old-school for us that we get bothered by because they’re laser-focused on their job. They want to win.”
Next for the Bloodhounds is a business trip against Austin Regents (2-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in Austin. Win or lose, Villarreal feels Brownsville St. Joseph has the potential to piece together a deep playoff run.
“I think great teams are consistent — they don’t have roller-coaster rides. They come in with the same objective every week, they play at a high level every week, know their assignment every week, regardless of who the opponent is, regardless of the weather, or if we’re traveling,” Villarreal said. “If we’re able to just play consistent ball and every week improve on one little detail, I think that that’s going to be the ticket for us to make a deep run in the playoffs.”
PLAYMAKERS
Week 3 delivered several standout performances across the RGV, including some at the sub-5A level.
Port Isabel running back Luis Ramos continued his offensive tear to start the season, racking up more than 250 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns during a 48-0 rout of Valley View.
Ramos took the game’s opening kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown to set the tone for the Tarpons and added a 75-yard touchdown run and a 61-yard touchdown reception. The junior running back, who only played one half, finished the game with six carries for 133 yards and a touchdown, and added one reception for 61 yards and a score and a kick return touchdown.
Other notable performances included Mario Lopez’s 174-rushing-yard, three-touchdown outing for Rio Hondo against Hidalgo, and Santa Maria quarterback/defensive back Miguel “PJ” Alaniz throwing for 229 yards and three touchdowns, adding five carries for 40 yards and a score and a pick-six.
For full stat leaders for all the RGV’s teams, visit RGVSports.com.
HEATING UP
RGV players weren’t the only thing on fire last week, with several sub-5A Rio Grande Valley teams gaining steam.
Lyford picked up its second straight win after dropping its season opener to Port Isabel, cruising past Brownsville Porter 47-21. The Bulldogs will look to continue rolling as district play begins Friday, when they take on Bishop (0-3) at 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium.
Meanwhile, the La Feria Lions improved to 2-1 after their second straight win of the year, taking down Hidalgo 27-13 at home last week. Next up for the Lions is a tilt against Valley View (0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at Lion Stadium in La Feria.
Santa Rosa continued its hot streak to start the season, moving to 3-0 with a convincing 17-6 win over La Villa. The Warriors now have outscored their first three opponents 113-18. They’ll take on Brownsville Porter (0-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.
For full results and standings from across the Valley, visit RGVSports.com.