BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
Edinburg High girls coach Cerjio Elizarraraz had penciled in Reyna Del Castillo as a starting forward from Day 1. That was in 2013, before Castillo suffered a torn ACL that cost her two years.
Now, as a junior, Castillo is finally back, leading a resurgent Edinburg High team into the playoffs.
“She brings another tempo. She brings it to another gear as far as our style of play and the speed of the game,” Elizarraraz said. “That was the missing piece, really.”
With Castillo looking on as a freshman, Edinburg High skidded to a 1-15 record.
Last year, as a sophomore, Castillo still wasn’t back to 100 percent, so she sat out another season. The Bobcats again struggled, finishing 3-13.
Even this year, Edinburg High was without Castillo for the first four district games as she completed basketball season. In only her second game back, Castillo scored four times in a 5-1 win against PSJA North.
“For her just to come in and play like she left off was pretty amazing,” Elizarraz said. “She’s fun to watch. She’s a special girl because of her ability and skills. The team gets better because of that.”
With Castillo complimenting the Bobcats’ other leading scorer, Yessi Molina, the team has increased its goal total from 7 in 2014 to 18 this season.
An even more stark turnaround has come on defense, where a group that allowed 55 goals last season has yielded just 12 this year. Elizarraraz said the team has mastered the man marking principles from last season and learned to mix in some new zone concepts.
Elizarraraz also credited the group, which has seven returning starters, for being selfless with position changes and committed to conditioning and the fundamentals.
“They came out at the beginning of the school year and said, ‘We’re going to come together as a group,’” Elizarraraz said. “And they did it.”
PLAYOFF BOUND
In a highly competitive District 30-6A, the La Joya High boys team managed to secure the fourth and final playoff spot during the season’s final week.
La Joya and Mission each finished with 18 points and split the head-to-head series, but the Coyotes claimed the playoff berth by virtue of outscoring the Eagles 4-3 across the two meetings.
Coach Eugenio Milla credited La Joya High’s improvement — from 6-10 last year to 6-6 this year — to a focus on weight training. As most of his players also run cross country, the group lacked the necessary “beef” to compete against some of the bigger teams. So Milla got the team involved in the “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” weight-training program, which focuses on the bench press, the dead lift, the squat and the power clean.
“As soon as we finished (last season), we started lifting weights,” Milla said. “That was the priority.”
The La Joya program also struggles with a lack of coaching depth. Milla works with the varsity and JV teams, and his two assistants focus on the freshman group.
“All of the success that we have been harvesting this year is due to hard work on the part of my staff and my players and a lot of commitment by my kids,” Milla said. “Everybody was interested in going to playoffs, because that was one of our goals this year.”
FINAL SURGE
The young PSJA Southwest girls team needed a late run to get into playoff position and came through, pulling out wins in its final three games to get to 28 points and secure the No. 3 seed in District 32-5A.
Southwest only narrowly edged out Brownsville Porter and Brownsville Pace, which each finished with 27 points.
Coach Juan Rodriguez said the group has come together after two- and three-match losing streaks during the district season.
“We’ve started competing as a team,” Rodriguez said. “We got it working together where the girls are back at it again, and they’re enthusiastic about what’s happening and everything that’s coming up.”
The Javelinas open the playoffs on the road against Edinburg Vela at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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