BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — It’s only fitting that a sophomore made two of the night’s biggest plays. Roster turnover was the story for Weslaco East heading into Thursday’s season-opener against Brownsville Rivera at Bobby Lackey Stadium. The team returns just nine starters from last year’s squad which advanced to the regional quarterfinals.
So as the Wildcats faced a 14-0 deficit in the second quarter, sophomore linebacker Roy Pedraza collected the first of two interceptions, setting the tone for what would become a 53-21 Weslaco East rout.
Once Pedraza attained the Wildcats’ first turnover with 8:19 remaining in the second quarter, the team carried itself in a different way. Where they entered the game looking stagnant and slow off the line of scrimmage, Weslaco East (1-0) would go on to score in all phases of the game. The first score came on a 54-yard touchdown run from senior running back Emlio Tamez.
“I don’t know what it was about that first quarter,” Tamez said. “Maybe it was just first game jitters. But once we started running downhill, that’s when things started to turn for us.”
Tamez shined in his debut as the No. 1 running back, carrying the ball 19 times for 128 yards, including three scores. Though he takes over for last year’s District 31-6A MVP, Lupe Moron, Wildcats coach Mike Burget stressed to Tamez and others not to concern themselves with living up to the reputation of others.
“I tell them that they don’t have to fill anybody else’s shoes,” Burget said. “If they just go out there and play like themselves, and not get caught up in being anybody else, we’ll be alright.”
Once Tamez made a trip to the endzone, the points kept coming. The Wildcats scored 21 second-quarter points, the next touchdown coming when senior Ciro Rojas ran a 22-yard quarterback keep. A missed PAT brought East within one point, 14-13. But a 1-yard touchdown pass from sophomore Richard LaFevre to Rojas on the ensuing drive gave East the lead for the remainder of the game.
“We weren’t too concerned about being down early,” Tamez said. “We were just talking to ourselves on the sideline, telling ourselves there was still plenty of time left on the clock.”
Rojas began the second half in exquisite style, returning the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, and receiving help from a referee who set an inadvertent screen against a Rivera defender. DB JC Vargas would get in on the action as well, scoring on a 51-yard interception return midway through the third quarter to make the score 40-21.
With plenty of season left to play, Burget was quick to stay focused on the task at hand for the Wildcats.
“I thought we played sloppy,” he said with a wry smile. “… I always stand at the line of scrimmage on the sideline, and I saw a lot of (Raiders) white in the backfield. It didn’t matter who was running the ball then, they were only going to get two or three yards.”
The Wildcats have three more non-district games to get their offensive and defensive lines in shape before district competition. The team travels to San Benito next week to play the Greyhounds.