District Openers in 32-3A Today!

[footballgal]

Plenty of competitive games to go around in sub-4A

Lyford-La Feria headlines tough slate
By ARMANDO GARZA
RGVSports.com 956-430-6255

LA FERIA
— Let the games begin!
Right off the bat, four important games dot the District 32-3A schedule.
Lyford at La Feria is one of those games.
The Bulldogs (2-1) were off last week and have won two straight thanks to some big offensive numbers.
Coach Jaime Infante’s team is rolling right now with backup quarterback Noe Valdez at the controls.
“Right now we feel good going into district,” Infante said. “We hope we’re where we need to be. We just need to come out and execute.”
Valdez’s 894 yards passing leads the Valley, and 12 different Lyford receivers have caught passes.
The pass-happy spread attack has created problems for Bulldog opponents, and will be the x-factor for Lyford.
“We’ve been able to get Noe some quality reps,” Infante said. “He’s gotten steadily better.”
La Feria comes off a 54-28 trouncing of Santa Rosa in the Battle of FM 506.
The Lions (1-2) had their best offensive output of the year, cranking out 517 yards.
“The kids are fired up and ready to go,” La Feria coach Elifonso Esquivel said. “We’re peaking at the right time offensively and we’ve gotten some good experience on defense. We’ve seen improvement.”
The Lions got big games from running back Randy Rodriguez and solid play from quarterbacks Raul Bowman and Colie Long.
Port Isabel at Hidalgo Another game with huge implications has Port Isabel taking on Hidalgo at Bill Pate Stadium.
The Tarpons were off after giving Valley No. 1 Edcouch-Elsa a game of it before falling in the second half.
PI (1-2) has gotten progressively better with each week, and that has head coach Monty Stumbaugh pleased.
“They’re a good football team that can score a lot of points. We know it’s gonna be a tough ballgame,” he said. “Everybody wants to start 1-0. There’s no off week in this district.”
The Tarpons have seen their ground game flourish with RB Joe Vega (207 yards) and Roli Alaniz (112). Quarterback Kyle DeMoss had his best outing of the season against E-E.
As Stumbaugh alluded to, the 2-1 Pirates set their scoreboard on fire by blasting Falfurrias 71-7 last Tuesday.
Quarterback Steve Pedraza tossed a schoolrecord six touchdown passes for the Pirates, who’ve won two straight games, scoring 118 points in the process.
Zapata at Rio Hondo Look for Rio Hondo to come out spirited after their big win over 5A school Laredo Alexander last week.
The Bobcats (2-1) downed the Bulldogs 49-42 thanks to solid defense and a steady ground game.
Joseph Vela, Jacob Martinez and Trevor David combined for 371 yards rushing.
“We’re ready to roll. Everybody’s excited off a pretty big win last week,” Rio Hondo coach Rocky James said. “We’ve only practiced outside one day due to the rain, just like everybody else. But the kids are eager to go outside and hit somebody.”
It’ll be two extremes in two weeks for the Bobcats’ defense.
With the pass-happy Bulldogs in the rearview mirror, they’ll focus on the run-oriented Hawks and their slot-T attack.
The Hawks are unbeaten at 3-0 but have not played a team of the Bobcats’ caliber.
“They have a very good football team and we have our work cut out for us,” James said.
The trio of George Gutierrez, Isaac Patterson and Sergio Quintanilla have proved solid for Zapata.
“They’ve got two big backs and a speedy back,” James said. “We love playing against the run.”
District 32-A
Santa Maria at Agua
Dulce
The Santa Maria Cougars are off to the best start in school history at 4-0 and will look to build upon that when they take on the Longhorns.
Santa Maria has played against larger junior varsity teams but has come out on top each time.
“We’ve been facing spread offenses since the first day of practice,” Santa Maria coach Lupe Perez said. “Agua Dulce gives us the slot-T offense to worry about. But we’re going in with the expectations of winning.”
Andy De La Rosa has established himself as a dual threat at quarterback, and he’s surrounded by plenty of playmakers.
“It’s huge,” Perez said. “This game is important for us and it’s our biggest game of the year.”
Armando Garza covers sub-4A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at armandog@valleystar.com.
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http://epaper.valleystar.com/Repository/getimage.dll?path=VMS/2008/09/26/17/Img/Pc0170100.jpg
Lynn Hermosa/Valley Morning Star
La Feria quarterback Raul Bowman fires a pass against Santa Rosa last week. The Lions host Lyford tonight in their district opener

http://www.rgvsports.com/articles/game_2855___article.html/games_santa.html

[footballgal]

Hidalgo, P.I. clash to open district

RGVSports.com
September 25, 2008 - 6:09PM
prasmussen@themonitor.com
Peter Rasmussen
District 32-3A has changed from one season ago and the Port Isabel-Hidalgo contest at 7:30 tonight in Hidalgo could go a long way in determining if old favorites will shine again.

The problem is that both P.I. and Hidalgo are the old favorites. The Pirates (2-1) are more recent favorites and the Tarpons (1-2) have made the playoffs 30 of the last 35 years.

A loss would not eliminate either team from the playoff picture but both are well aware of the dangers lurking in an eight-team league. Last season, District 32-3A encompassed only five teams, allowing squads only four district games. Realignment in February added three more teams to the league.

"Back when I first started coaching in 1989 at Rio Grande City, we were in a 10-team district," Pirates coach Jorge Pena said. "We had only one non-district game and then we had to get right into it. That challenge is that you have to be able to get your team ready to play every week. I think the teams that do that will be in the playoffs."

Since Pena has taken over at Hidalgo in 2005, the Pirates games against the Tarpons have proved vital to the playoff picture. In '05, Hidalgo defeated Port Isabel to claim the district's second seed. Last season, it was reversed.

"The games with Hidalgo have been interesting," Stumbaugh said. "We always expect a good game with Hidalgo."

Both teams enter this season's contest with some new personal, especially offensively. Gone for the Pirates is their top cog from last season, quarterback Oscar Perez. The Tarpons had to learn to do without the services of running back Nolan Nunez and QB David Alaniz this season.

The Pirates replaced Perez with Steve Pedraza, who recorded a school-record six touchdowns in Hidalgo's thumping of Falfurrias last week and has Hidalgo's offense averaging 425.7 yards per game.

"They put their athlete back there and let him do his thing," Stumbaugh said of Pedraza.

P.I. has struggled offensively. The Tarpons check in as District 32-3A's worst offensive team as far as yardage is concerned, averaging only 287.0 yards per game. P.I., though, has faced stiff competition in West Oso (Week 0) and Edcouch-Elsa (Week 2).

"We know we are facing a pre-season favorite in a lot of polls," Pena said. "We know that it is very deserving. I saw them play against Edcouch and that game could have easily gone their way if they didn't shoot themselves in the foot."

Peter Rasmussen covers District 30-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com.

http://www.rgvsports.com/articles/hidalgo_2850___article.html/district_season.html

[footballgal]

Battle at Burnett

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Raymondville, Progreso meet with more at stake
September 25, 2008 - 11:19PM
ARMANDO GARZA | RGVSports.com
RAYMONDVILLE - Alex Leal has seen quite a bit in 29 seasons as a head coach.
So when his Raymondville Bearkats host the upstart Progreso Red Ants in the 32-3A opener at Burnett Stadium tonight, they'll be prepared for anything.
Progreso is 3-0 for the second straight season. They've done it with the Valley's leading rusher Juan Vega (91 carries, 738 yards, 10 TDs) and a solid defense.
But Leal remembers what Red Ant coach Elvis Hernandez wanted to do going into the season.
And so does the Bearkat defense.
"We know they wanted to throw the ball and spread it out this season," Leal said. "So we're not going to be lulled to sleep by their running game. They can throw it. We're not going to leave any stone unturned."
The Red Ants have dispatched of 4A Valley View and TAPPS schools Brownsville St. Joseph's and Marine Military Academy thanks to a ground game featuring Vega and solid play from quarterback Juan Treviño.
"It's the first district game and a big district game for us," Hernandez said. "We know they're gonna try and stop our running game. That's a given. So we're gonna have to put it up (in the air) and hope the pass opens up the run."
But the underrated Red Ant defense is also solid. The unit is tops in 32-3A, allowing only 143 yards per game. A solid linebacker corps of Gabriel Silva, Jay Garcia and Eddie Garcia has been stout.
"We know we're going up against a very formidable opponent," Leal said of the Red Ants. "Our kids are fired up to open district."
The host Kats, meanwhile, are chugging along nicely at 2-1. Raymondville has won two straight, including wins over 4As Kingsville and Valley View.
The Bearkats are a balanced team with the top-ranked offense in the Valley at 459.7 yards per clip.
They're led by quarterback Raul Salinas, who has passed for over 200 yards in each of the Kats' three games.
On the receiving end of those passes has been the ultra-fast Dusty Alejo (16 catches, 435 yards) and Skylore Janes, who had a big five-catch, 143 yard effort against Valley View.
But Raymondville's not all about air traffic. They can grind it out, too.
Sophomore B.J. Flores leads them in rushing with 238 yards, while Alejo (148) and fullback Leroy "The Refrigerator" Salazar (88) can also tote the ball.
"We know we're gonna have to try and stop their weapons," Hernandez said. "Their quarterback has played well and Dustin Alejo is an awesome athlete. We can't kick or punt the ball to him. And their running backs 31 (Salazar) and 27 (Flores) are great too."
One bad realm for the Kats has been turnovers, namely fumbles. They lost a couple in the opener at Tuloso-Midway and gave away six in Week Two against Valley View.
"If we can eliminate mistakes, we'll be OK," Leal said. "We've been working real hard at protecting the football."
Defensively, the Kats feature a salty unit paced by John Michael Rodriguez and Gilbert Hernandez, among others.

Armando Garza covers sub-4A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at armandog@valleystar.com.

http://www.rgvsports.com/articles/season_2854___article.html/red_going.html

[Ray_BearKat]

can't wait for tonight...that sure is a nice pic. Looks like the Kingsville game.

[JR2004]

The news outlets down there seem to do a pretty good job in their write-ups. The DMN does a pretty good job here considering the sheer volume of schools they are responsible for covering, but it's not as in-depth as the stuff you post from down there in the Valley. That's really nice that they give so much coverage to everyone.

[Phil C]

The Valley now is starting to get a new generation of players, coaches, fans and administrators. Powerful State Championship teams are bound to come from this developing area in the future. That is good news for football and it will start to really get the respect when some of the bigger schools claim state championships.

Plus they have the great Pelican West band whose place is located just south of the Radissen Hotel at South Padre Island, Texas. That increases the risk.

[footballgal]

Originally posted by JR2004
The news outlets down there seem to do a pretty good job in their write-ups. The DMN does a pretty good job here considering the sheer volume of schools they are responsible for covering, but it's not as in-depth as the stuff you post from down there in the Valley. That's really nice that they give so much coverage to everyone. Yeah I have to admit they do - all the news outlets, get into the the action; HS football is KING here; from the 3 major local papers, to the 4 major network TV station. Why even the local spanish language TV stations get a piece of the audience attention, with local HS coverage as well.

[Ingleside Fan]

Plus they have the great Pelican West band whose place is located just south of the Radissen Hotel at South Padre Island, Texas. That increases the risk.

:fnypost: :lies: