BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
Brownsville Rivera and Weslaco East found themselves in ratified company a season ago, joining Los Fresnos and Sharyland High as the only Valley-football teams to advance to the regional-quarterfinals of the playoffs.
As the Raiders travel to Bobby Lackey Stadium for today’s season opener against the Wildcats, both teams are looking to reestablish a familiar level of consistency. Each program returns nine starters, but a right knee injury suffered by East senior left guard Jonathan Banda during a scrimmage means the Wildcats will start an entirely different offense from a season ago.
“It wasn’t a dirty play,” Weslaco East coach Mike Burget said. “Another lineman just rolled up underneath him. There’s nothing you can really do when something like that happens.”
Burget says Banda will be out for a few weeks, and that senior Alex Saenz will be his replacement. Saenz started nine games at various positions in 2014.
With both teams experiencing heavy roster turnover, each side will use their four non-district games as a means of rediscovering playoff caliber football.
“This is the first year we’ve had to come and look for 10 different starters on offense,” Burget said. “… We evaluated quite a bit and found a lot of answers about where our kids belong. We still got a long ways to go. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”
Rivera coach Tom Chavez knows all about finishing strong. After dropping five straight games to begin last season, the Raiders won their remaining six games en route to a surprising postseason run. As game day approaches, Rivera has yet to find out what kind of team they can be.
“We don’t have a concept yet,” Chavez said. “We’re a young team. We’re just learning and trying to get better every week. We’ve got three non-conference games against tough opponents in Weslaco East, Edinburg North and Sharyland (High). That type of experience is only going to make us better.”
Chavez points his receiving corps as the few remaining go-to guys from last year, including senior Sammy Orive, who gained 553 regular season receiving yards. Weslaco East will rely senior running back Emilio Tamez and senior quarterback Ciro Rojas to pick up yards on the ground. Burget says he expects his team to respond regardless of who is on the field.
“In the 10 years I’ve been here, I’ve never asked a kid to go out and win a football game,” Burget said. “I ask them to go out there and have fun, and to out-hit their opponent. When you do those two things, winning takes care of itself.”