What a Season! La Joya Juarez-Lincoln ends its season with three wins. Coach Garcia pleased. McAllen Memorial goes undefeated in 30-5A. Wins title. PSJA Bears and Sharyland make playoffs.
2008 RGV H.S. FOOTBALL PROSPECTS at www.hssmscout.com Special State Football Playoff Issue Volume 4 Issue No. 8 1. HARLINGEN 2. LOS FRESNOS 3. SHARYLAND 4. MCALLEN MEMORIAL 5. PSJA 6. PSJA NORTH 7. WESLACO 8. RIO HONDO 9. LA FERIA 10. MERCEDES HSSM TOP 10 RGV Football Teams Successful in Playoffs. What a Season! What a Season! RGV Football Teams Successful in Playoffs. Mike Moroles Sharyland H.S. Patrick Granchelli McAllen Memorial H.S. Angel Marroquin PSJA H.S. > Coach of the Year P.22 > Coach of the Year P.22 > RGV Football Playoff Action P.8 > RGV Football Playoff Action > It’s All About Passion P.4 > It’s All About Passion P.4 P.8 Ruben Sauceda PSJA H.S.
Transcript
2008 RGV H.S. FOOTBALL PROSPECTS at www.hssmscout.com
Special State Football Playoff Issue
Volume 4 Issue No. 8
1. HARLINGEN 2. LOS FRESNOS 3. SHARYLAND 4. MCALLEN MEMORIAL 5. PSJA 6. PSJA NORTH 7. WESLACO 8. RIO HONDO 9. LA FERIA 10. MERCEDES
HSSMTOP 10
RGV Football Teams Successful in Playoffs.
What aSeason!What aSeason!RGV Football Teams Successful in Playoffs.
It’s all about passionPUBLISHER’S NOTE www.texashighschoolsportsmagazine.com
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
DAVIDAMADOR
HSSM PUBLISHER
BY
o family de-serves to lose a loved one. Our children are our most prized pos-
sessions and as their caretak-ers, we watch over them with cautioned and sometimes, fear. As a parent, I watched many families come together during sports like football. It’s a family. It does not mat-ter whether you know these players personally, but you do know these players by their numbers that they wear on game day. I can clearly remember when I used to play football at Progreso. I had lots of dreams to become the best even though I was the smallest. My coached nicked named me “mullet” and my number was 21. Last year, a talented young running back appeared on our October 2007 cover edition. I was impressed with
his ability as a football player. He had the po-tential to become some-one special. His dreams were cut short when he made the wrong deci-sion. And it came with sacrifice too. Now, this young teen sits in a wheel chair, while his 15-year old friend and
dreamer lies deep within our hearts. During the PSJA-PSJA North football game, head coach Bruce
Bush dedicated LeeRoy’s jersey to his family as they wept on the field after the game. “He was part of our team. He was a Raider,” said Bush. I never had the chance to meet Lee-Roy but I will always remember this child as a player, son, and everyone’s friend. His number will always be remembered by those who loved him on game day.
N
4
National Associationof Hispanic Journalists
Member of the
2008 Member of the Texas Sports Writers Association
> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
www.texashighschoolsportsmagazine.com
VOLUME 4 ISSUE NO.8
November 22, 2008
Tough Coach! McAllen Memorial Mustang head coach Bill Littleton. (HSSM IMages)
6 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
ContentsContents8 What a Season By David A. Amador
INSIDE RGV SPORTS
16 The HuskiesLa Joya Juarez-Lincoln ends its season with three wins. Coach Garcia pleased.
18 Playoff UpsetsWeslaco ends season with Harlingen defeat. Villar-real says next year will be better.
24 The Final StandingsTeams end season with playoff hopes. See district final standings.
National Associationof Hispanic Journalists
Member of the
Fans vote at www.hssmon-line.net for the All-South Texas Coach of the Year.
22 HSSM FansVote for Coach of the Year...
Heros Rose and Fell. Re-cords were Rewritten.
HEROES ROSE AND FELL. RECORDS WEREREWRITTEN. AND FANS WITNESSEDFEATS THEY’D NEVERSEEN BEFORE.HSSM TAKES A LOOK BACK AND REFLECTSON THE YEAR THAT WAS RGV FOOTBALL IN 2008.
BY DAVID A. AMADORHSSM SPORTS DIRECTOR
WHAT A SEASON
Sharyland vs SA Clark-Defensive players Aaron Alaniz and Bobby Mo-ran stop Cougar RB Ryan Jones. The SA Clark Cougars won 49-21 in the Class 5A Division I Regional finals. (HSSM IMages)
WHAT A SEASON
30-5A District Champions-McAl-len Memorial celebrated its second district title with a 7-0 record. Joel Chavarin and Adolfo Garza (HSSM IMages)
10 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
WHAT A SEASON BY DAVID A. AMADOR
Ed-Elsa QB ERIK NINO-earned MVP honors as High School Sports Maga-zine’s Player of the Year. (HSSM IMages)
Undefeated Season Ends-Port Lavaca-Calhoun ended the Yellow-jackets perfect season at 11-1 in the Class 4A Division II Area playoffs. (HSSM IMages)
HAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. Back in August, everyone was talking about the Ed-
couch-Elsa Yellowjackets as the team to beat in South Texas. They had the talent and coaching. They had the senior squad. Now we’ve seen the re-sults. The Yellowjackets went perfect for eleven games in 2008 and then they had to petition the University Inter-scholastic League (UIL) Executive Committee in early November just to stay in the playoffs. A grievance was filed by the Mer-cedes ISD School District regarding
the use of an ineligible player created all the distractions a team would need right before the playoffs. Instead, the UIL granted the Yellowjackets their wishes and were allowed to play in the State 4A playoffs. The Yellowjack-ets lasted only two rounds, losing to Port Lavaca-Calhoun 28-48 in the area playoffs. Season over. The Yellowjack-ets won six district titles.
W
GREAT YEAR ALMOST
THE SETBACKSMercedes QB-Albert Chavez entered drug rehab midway through the season ending his career with theTigers. (HSSM IMages)
Mercedes RB-Ismael Vela led the Tigers to the Class 4A Division I playoffs against Calallen. (HSSM IMages)
> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
(Mercedes)-Head coach Gilbert Leal had high hopes for his Mercedes Tigers in 2008. They opened their season at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas against 6th ranked Port Lavaca-Calhoun. This would be the game this Queen City had waited for since 2007. “Every restaurant talked about this game in town,” said Leal. But the Tigers would lose 54-26. This is when their troubles begun. Players were tested for illegal substances and were disci-plined by the Mercedes ISD school. One player left the team to seek rehab, while the others were relieved of their playing duties. In the end, this left only one player to carry the hopes of the Tigers in the State 4A playoffs against Corpus Christi Calallen. RB Ismael Vela led the Tigers in the State 4A Division I Bi-District Championships by put-ting Leal’s team ahead 14-0 early in the first quarter with touchdown runs of 13 yards and 15 yards. But, then the Calallen Wildcats responded with two scores of their own to tie the game with an 89-yard kickoff return by Bryden McClure and then QB Dustin Vaughan found WR Adam Hoelscher open from 18-yards out. “It’s been a tough year of the unex-pected,” said Leal as he held back his emotions after the loss. Vela scored the Tiger’s last touchdown of the season on a 90-yard run late in the third quarter. The Tigers ended its season with a 7-4 record and second place finish in 32-4A. In the Tigers last two district wins against Valley View and LJ Juarez-Lincoln, they outscored their opponents 114-40. “This was an interesting year,” added Leal.
12 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
> CLICK
WWW.HSSM.TV
IN THE GARAGEdebuts with Touchdown Dave
NEW RIVALS
Weslaco East-earned its sec-ond straight playoff appear-ance in school history against CC Flour Bluff. (HSSM IMages)
HUSKIES VS LOBOS-High School Sports Mag-azine witnessed the first-ever played game with new La Joya Schools, Palmview and Juarez-Lin-coln. The first marquee matchup win went to head coach Aaron Garcia and his Huskies. (HSSM IMages)
WINNING TRADITIONS STRONG SIDE
(Weslaco)-Head coach Ar-mando Cuellar wanted to coach his son in high school and he kept his dream alive as he experienced two playoff runs with his son, John. Together, they made history at Weslaco East High School by making the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, including this year. The Wildcats met up with Flour Bluff again in the Class 4A Bi-District champion-ships at Bobby Lackey Sta-dium. The Wildcats trailed
21-14 at the half but turned it up a notch in the third period. Senior running back Andrew Alvarado had sur-passed 2,000 yards rushing for the season and already, he had scored two touch-downs in the first half but with 1:16 left in the third, Alvarado would score his third touchdown on a 21-yard run to make it 26-28. The Wildcats had a chance to score late in the fourth where they faced a 4th and one at mid-field with less than three minutes to play. The Wildcats were stopped by Flour Bluff to end the game. The Wildcats started the season with three straight wins against Hidalgo, La Fe-
ria, and Lopez. In probably one of the biggest games in Cuellar’s career, he welcomed the 32-4A five-time district champions Edcouch-Elsa at Lackey Stadium on a Sat-urday afternoon to play for a possible district title in its district opener. “We’ll see who the winner will be after the clock ex-pires,” Cuellar told HSSM. The Wildcats went wild in the first half behind the superb running of Alvarado who score 3-TDs in the first half to put the Wildcats trailing 23-28. The Yellowjackets regrouped and allowed Alvarado only 80-yards total rushing in the sec-
ond half to win 42-23. The Wildcats won their final two games to finish third in the 32-4A. After the game, Cuellar told his players, “I’m real proud of you guys. In my book, you guys are true champions.”
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 13> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
RISE TO GLORY
PSJA Bear Mystic-head coach Mel Rios led his Bears to the Class 5A Division I Area Championships in back-to-back seasons. (Right photo) RBs Angel Marroquinn and Gilbert Espino led team. (HSSM IMages)
(Pharr)-Winning the city championship in 2008 had to have been PSJA head coach Mel Rios’ greatest moment. His players hoist-ed him high above their shoulders after defeating the 31-5A co-champions PSJA North Raiders in their season finale 25-15 to finish fourth in 31-5A and clinch-ing the final spot for a play-off bid. “It’s that Bear mystic that we have here at PSJA,” Rios told HSSM after the game. Rios has built a strong tra-dition at PSJA and with only one player back on defense, Rios knew that this season would prove to be chal-lenging. And that it was. The
Bears started it’s season with three straight losses to playoff teams Los Fresnos (6-23), McAllen (13-31), and McAllen Memorial (15-17). “We played without Angel Marroquin and Gilbert Es-pino. Both running backs were hampered by injuries throughout the season,” said Rios. Once both play-ers were in the line-up, the Bears racked up the points with three consecutive wins over PSJA Memorial, Econo-medes, and North to make the playoffs. In the Class 5A Division I Bi-District game, Marroquin rushed 19 times for 146 yards and Espino added an-other 64 yards to win the ti-
tle against Brownsville Pace 24-7. Against the Sharyland Rattlers, the Bears again, unleashed their potent run-ning game with Marroquin rushingfor 183 yards and two touchdowns. He would give the Bears an early 7-0 lead with 8:15 left in the first quarter. Marroquin would add another late score but the Rattlers had already built a 21-13 lead in the third quarter. The Bears ended their year with a 6-6 overall record and 5-2 district finish. “These Bears never gave up,” said Rios. “We play tougher schedules to prepare for bigger challenges.”
THE PERFECT SEASON
30-5A District Champs-RB Gabe Phillips led the McAllen Memorial Mustangs in their win over Laredo Alexander in the Class 5A Division II Bi-District playoffs 53-28. (HSSM IMages)
14 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
(McAllen)-The polls picked the McAllen Memorial Mus-tangs to finish no higher than fourth place in 30-5A but head coach Bill Littleton knew that his team would surprise many teams in 2008. “We had the team to win games this sea-son,” said Littleton. But for the Mustangs, they had to wait two games early on to prove that they were for real. The Mustangs opened their quest with losses to Edinburg Econo-medes and Brownsville Pace. After ending the 2007 cam-paign with only one win, Littleton started to hear the heat from Mustang fans. “I stand by every decision I make and people did not like the fact I was starting a freshmen quar-terback,” added Littleton. If anyone understands talent and sees opportunity, Littleton is the coach that has this vision. After all, he was the coach who gave freshmen running back Bradley Stephens his first start. Now, it would be Matthew Kaufmann’s time to shine. The freshmen quarterback gave Memorial its first win of the season, a close one too, over PSJA 17-15 in non-district action. Straight district wins over La Joya, Rio Grande City, and La Joya Palmview put the Mustangs at 3-0 and fans start-ed to talk about its match up with cross-town rival, McAllen. Still, they needed to beat Nikki Rowe before thinking about a match up with the Bulldogs. The Mustangs would win 29-14 to set up the showdown at McAllen Memorial Veterans Stadium on October 24th. Senior running back Patrick Granchelli led his Stangs past the Bulldogs 49-45 by rushing for 169 yards and scored two touchdowns. Kaufmann was even more impressive by pass-ing for 209 yards and three scores. Overall, the Mustangs rushed for 490 yards against the Bulldogs to set its sights on winning the outright 30-5A title. Littleton praised his coaching staff all year long and was proud to say that “this was a special team and they played together.” The Mustangs clinched their final district win to stay perfect at 7-0 with a win over last year’s district champion, Donna 27-17. The game was highlighted on Foxsports DQ Big Game of the Week in Texas. “It was a good year and I’m proud,” said Lit-tleton. In the state play-offs, Memorial traveled to Laredo to take on Alexander in the Class 5A Division II Bi-Dis-trict title game. The Mustangs totally domi-nated the game behind the running of Gabe Phillips and Granchelli. Freshmen quarterback Kaufmann also contrib-uted with two runs for 2pt conversions to claim the 53-28 win.
> 2008 Season30-5A McAllen Memorial
EconomedesBrownsville PacePSJALa JoyaRio Grande CityLJ PalmviewMcAllen RoweMcAllenSharylandDonnaLaredo Alexander (Bi-District)Los Fresnos (Area)
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 17> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
Go Huskies! Head Coach: Aaron Garcia2008 Record: 3-7, 2-5District: 32-4AFirst Season
(La Joya)-The La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Huskies sported the look of the Ohio State uniforms and if anyone would have told head coach Aaron Garcia that he would not win a game in 2008 he would have walked away and smiled. “We can win some games this year. Just because we are a new school does not matter. I have coached these players since they were in junior high,” added Garcia. The Hus-kies opened their season with Hidalgo and barely loss 43-47. Then came it’s matchup against newest 5A high school from La Joya, the Palmview Lobos. Garcia watched his Huskies win its school’s first game in history, 42-20 in non-district action on September 12th. The Huskies then opened their District 32-4A season with another win, this time against Roma 35-30. They would not record another district win until they would travel to Valley View High School where they would record another victory and its first shutout, a 48-0 victory. In its final game against Mercedes, junior RB Jose Bo-canegra had 167 yards receiving and three scores in the first quarter as his team held on to a 28-21 lead. The final score: Mercedes 63 Juarez-Lincoln 34. “We had a great year and our team played hard. I am proud of these guys and now we can look forward to playing in 2009 with more pride and higher goals,” added Garcia.
PlayoffUpsets!
18 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
Teams like Weslaco made the state football playoffswith high expectations only to watch their hopes fade away.Teams like Weslaco made the state football playoffs with high expectations only to watch their hopes fade away.
PlayoffUpsets!
By Touchdown DaveHSSM Sports Director
Teams like Weslaco made the state football playoffswith high expectations only to watch their hopes fade away.Teams like Weslaco made the state football playoffs with high expectations only to watch their hopes fade away.
For more sports go to www.hssmonline.net
(Weslaco)-All season long, head coach Tony Villar-real played with players that he knew were inexpe-rienced and underclassmen. At one point throughout the Weslaco Panthers season, he even had only one starter on defense leading his troops. But Villarreal found ways to make things exciting. “We made lots of adjustments and our players just came through at the right times,” said Villarreal. The Weslaco Panthers finished tied for second place in 32-5A with a record of 7-3 for the year, and most importantly, another playoff spot in Class 5A. With Villarreal at Weslaco, the Panthers have built a four-year tradition of making the playoffs and now the expectations of winning are exceedingly high. The fanfare of commercials exploding on the Dak-tronics Scoreboard, the addition of a multi-million dollar weightroom complex, and now the expansion of the Bobby Lackey Football Stadium this summer, Villarreal says that football has become an epedimic around this community. “They (fans) love winning and they love their Weslaco Panthers. I’m glad to just be part of this enviroment. It’s exciting,” added Villarreal. Last season, the Panthers advanced to the Class 5A Regional finals and hosted its playoff game at Bobby Lackey Stadium in Weslaco against the San Antonio Madison Mavericks before 12,000 fans. This year, fans expected the same. “We were a different team this year because we were playing lots of sophomores and juniors,” added Villarreal. In turn, the Panthers watched early on that winning would not come easy. The Panthers started the season with two straight wins over Harlingen South and Rio Grande City and then the three-game slide hit bottom. Losses to Edinburg, Los Fresnos, and Pace had many Panther fans wondering what could happen next. Villarreal managed to get his Panthers back on track after starting the 32-5A season at 0-2 to finish with five straight wins. The Panthers fin-ished the year with a loss to Harlingen in the Class 5A Di-vision I Bi-District playoffs but Villar-real remained opti-mistic saying that “next year will be different.”
Overrated-McAllen HighSchool head football coach Tony Harris watched his Bulldogs finish second in 30-5A. (HSSM IMages)
NO CELEBRATION(McAllen)-High School Sports Magazine picked the McAllen Bulldogs to win the outright District 30-5A title in 2008. After all, they were the team to beat. The Bull-dogs had the mammoth linemen, experienced quarter-back, talented receivers, and probably one of the best de-fenses in South Texas. Even 11th-year head coach, Tony Harris told the media that “this is probably one of the best teams McHi has had yet.” In the past three seasons, the McHi Bulldogs have post-ed 9-3, 8-4, and now another 8-3 season. The Bulldogs football season ended quickly with a Class 5A Division II Bi-District loss to 29-5A champ, San Antonio Southwest in overtime, 35-28. It would be then, that Harris would come out and tell reporters that “you guys have the polls and ranked us high.” McAllen High School celebrated its 100th year this season with three losses to Harlingen (17-24), McAllen Memorial (45-49), and Southwest (28-35), along with a second place finish in 30-5A. What’s worst, no district title in 2008. For the past three seasons, Harris has spent his time looking for other coaching positions throughout the state. Top Bulldog players were LB Sam Magnum, WR Nick Garza, WR Aaron Correa, and OL Tino Hong.
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 21
Rio Grande City Rattlers-The Rattlers ended their 2008 season with a win over La Joya 29-23 and finished third in total offense with 403.0 yards per game and running back Justin Ortega rushing for 1,293 yards and 18 touchdowns. (HSSM IMages)
GREAT FINISH
22 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
High School Sports Magazine’s 2008
(McAllen)-The fans have voted and High School Sports Magazine’s All-South Texas Coach of the Year award goes to McAllen Memorial head football coach Bill Little-ton. “This is quite an honor. The fans have spoken. This is a tribute to our players and coaches. I give praise to all of them,” says Littleton. This year HSSM decided to let the fans vote for the HSSM All South Texas Coach and Littleton received more than 51.33% of the votes online at www.highschoolsportsmagazine.net. “Our HSSM fans wanted to get involve. Maybe the BCS needs to let fans vote this way too,” says HSSM publisher David A. Amador. Littleton grew up in a small town located somewhere on Hwy 90 between El Paso and San Antonio called Sanderson. This is where he would get his first coaching job in 1976 as a junior high coach. “This town sits in the middle of nowhere,” adds Little-ton.
30-5A District Champs-Head coach Bill Littleton led his McAllen Memorial team to the title. (HSSM IMages)
Bill Littleton6th Season
McAllen MemorialOverall record: 31-34
2008 Record 9-3 30-5A District Champs
Class 5A Bi-District Class 5A Area Finals
> CAREER2008 All-South Texas Coach of the Year
Coaches of the Year
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 23> Send us your weekly player nominations to [email protected]
> THE VOTE
www.hssmonline.net
How the Fans VotedBill LittletonScott FordBruce BushJoe SolisRobert Valdez
51.33%20.0%11.33%9.33%8.0%
2008 All-South Texas Coach of the Year
His journey in coaching led Littleton to Cuero High School where he became the defensive coordinator. In 11 seasons at Cuero, the Gobblers made it to the State 3A finals twice, only to lose to Southlake Carroll in 1993 and Aledo in 1998. Littleton had the opportunity to become the head coach for the Gobblers for four years leading them to the state playoffs three times before coming to McAllen Memorial in 2003. “We cannot be satsified with our playoff runs. We have to aim higher. This is what I tell our coaches and players every year,” said Littleton. Last year was a distasterous season for the Mustangs as they went 1-9 but the Mus-tang coach knew that his team was on the verge of making a playoff run in 2008. “ I really believed that we had a playoff team in 2007 but injuries set us back. This year fans started to second guess our program again but I stood firm with my decisions I made early on,” he added.
32-4A District Champs-Head coach Joe Solis led the Edcouch-Elsa Yellowjackets to their 6th consecutive district title. (HSSM IMages)
presented by Dairy Queen
Coaches of the Year
24 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
30-5A Top Coach-Head coach Fred Sanchez led his Sharyland Rattlers to the third round of the State 5A Division I playoffs. (HSSM IMages)
> Standings30-5A Overall
McAllen MemorialMcAllenSharylandDonnaMcAllen RoweLa JoyaRio Grande CityLJ Palmview
9-38-310-36-45-53-73-70-10
7-06-15-24-32-52-52-50-7
Team Season District
31-5A Overall
HarlingenPSJA NorthEdinburg NorthPSJAEdinburgPSJA MemorialEconomedesHarlingen South
10-38-37-46-64-64-62-82-8
6-1*6-1*5-25-23-41-61-61-6
Team Season District
32-5A Overall
Los FresnosWeslacoBrownsville PaceBrownsville PorterSan BenitoBrownsville HannaBrownsville RiveraBrownsville Lopez
12-17-46-56-56-42-81-91-9
7-05-25-24-34-32-51-60-7
Team Season District
*Co-Champs
www.hssmpolls.com
148 North Sam Houston BlvdSan Benito, Texas 78586
956-399-1353
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 25> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
Firm it stood as he started a freshmen quarterback named Matthew Kaufmann. The Mustangs drew criti-sim from fans but Littleton knew that opening losses to Edinburg Economedes (22-25) and Brownsville Pace
31-5A Top Coach-Head coach Bruce Bush won a 31-5A Co-Championship in his first season at PSJA North. (HSSM IMages)
La VillaBruniSanta MariaBen BoltBenavidesAgua DulceKinsgville Academy
7-49-23-44-53-61-70-9
6-05-13-33-33-31-50-6
Team Season District
26 HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE November 2008
32-5A District Champs-Head coach Scott Ford led his Los Fresnos Falcons to the title with a perfect 10-0 season. (HSSM IMages)
(19-33) would change. “We made some adjustments and it paid off for the remainder of the year,” said Littleton. The Mustangs came on strongf winning the next eight games in a row to clinch the 30-5A outright title, along with a Class 5A Division II Bi-District cham-pionship. The Mustangs also drew state-wide recongintion from Fox Sports Southwest’s Big DQ Game of the Week in Texas. They ended their district run with a perfect 7-0 record, including a 27-17 win over Donna. Other coaches awarded by HSSM as the District Coaches of the Year presented by Dairy Queen are Los Fresnos’s Scott Ford of 32-5A; Fred Sanchez of Sharyland 30-5A; Bruce Bush of PSJA North 31-5A; Joe Solis from Edcouch-Elsa in 32-4A; Elifonso Esquivel from 32-3A La Feria; Josh Gonzalez of Santa Rosa in 32-2A; and Raul Villarreal from Santa Maria in 32-1A. While most coaches do not think too much of this tiny town listed somewhere on Military Hwy, just a few miles from the border of Nuevo Progreso, Villarreal came in and believed that this Cougar team could make the playoffs. He led the Cougars to the State 1A playoffs
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS MAGAZINE 27> If you have a comment for David A. Amador, send it to [email protected]
Class 3A Division I Quarterfinalist-Head coach Elifonso Esquivel of La Feria High School led his Lions to the state quarterfinals against Cuero in 2008. (HSSM IMages)
for the first time in school history. The Cougars bid for a state title was cut short as they lost to Falls City 40-12 in the bi-district round. The La Feria Lions advanced to the State 3A Division I Quarterfinals for the first time in twenty years after fin-ishing tied for third in 32-3A with a win over Hidalgo 49-21. The Lions opened their playoff run with wins over Robstown (3-0) and then traveled to the Alamo-dome in San Antonio to upset Bandera 31-14. The Cuero Gobblers ended their season with a 55-13 defeat in the quarterfinals.
> The UIL State Playoffswww.hssmpolls.com
Class 5A Division IBi-DistrictLaredo United 46 Donna 7PSJA 24 Pace 7Harlingen 63 Weslaco 14Sharyland 35 Del Rio 18AreaHarlingen 35 Laredo United 7Sharyland 28 PSJA 13RegionalsHarlingen 23 Austin Westlake 49Sharyland 21 SA Clark 49Division 5A Division IIBi-DistrictSA Southwest 35 McHi 28 OTLos Fresnos 70 Ed North 21McA Mem 53 Laredo Alexander 28PSJA North 27 Porter 15AreaPSJA North 21 SA Southwest 41Los Fresnos 59 Memorial 15RegionalsSA Reagan 28 Los Fresnos 11Class 4A Division IBi-DistrictAlice 56 Mission 20Flour Bluff 28 Weslaco East 26Class 4A Division IIBi-DistrictEd-Elsa 59 Tulso-Midway 22
Calallen 34 Mercedes 21AreaEd-Elsa 28 Port Lacava-Calhoun 48Class 3A Division IBi-DistrictLa Feria 3 Robstown 0RegionalLa Feria 31 Bandera 14QuarterfinalsLa Feria 13 Cuero 55Class 3A Division IIBi-DistrictRio Hondo 35 Ingleside 14Sinton 48 Lyford 14AreaRio Hondo 48 Devine 43RegionalsRio Hondo 28 Giddings 28Class 2A Division IBi-DistrictThree Rivers 35 Santa Rosa 0Class 1A Division IBi-DistrictLa Villa 43 Yorktown 42RegionalsLa Villa 12 Junction 51Class 1A Division IIBi-DistrictFalls City 40 Santa Maria 12
