By Rey Sifuentes Jr.
Approximately two years ago at this time, Eagle Pass High School head football coach Tom Gonzalez knew his very young team was going to need some significant grooming.
“We started a rebuilding process two years ago,” Gonzalez said. “We knew it was going to take us a couple of years to build up this program and this is the season that follows that two-year progression.”
Gonzalez (who is about to enter his eighth year with EPHS) and everyone on his sideline just rolled up their sleeves and led the Eagles to two consecutive playoff appearances.
Despite that, the Eagles - who anticipate about six offensive and seven defensive starters to come back this fall - were recently forecasted to finish fourth (out of seven teams) in District 29-5A this season.
“Every year we have been predicted to finish fourth,” Gonzalez said. “Actually, we have only ended up in fourth place once or twice in my eight years here. I don’t go by what other people predict, and I know what we have as a program. Our kids are always ready to go, and I think we are going to be much better than fourth place this season.”
Gonzalez said that a good number of his players have consistently shown up on their own to workout.
“We are going to start our strength and conditioning workouts next Monday – from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.,” Gonzalez said. “Since we let out school, we have also had a good number of kids showing up every day to work out on their own. We have a good group of leaders who are lifting and running on their own - have taken the initiative. We told them what they needed to do in order to be ready for when football two-a-days started again in August, and they have done a very good job of following through.”
The Eagles are going to need to be in tip top shape with the caliber of teams occupying 29-5A.
“I think this district is going to be tougher,” Gonzalez said. “Every team is pretty much on a level playing field right now, and has a lot of kids with a bunch of experience coming back. There have also been some changes like in Del Rio and C.C. Winn who have new head coaches.”
And if everything clicks, the Eagles’ two-year investment should pay off nicely this season.
“This group is full of guys who started on the varsity while they were sophomores,” Gonzalez said. “Mike Montalvo was a freshman who started the last three games that season, and he is a junior now. Kevin Chisum is also a senior, and we have other guys who have plenty of experience like R.J. Ruiz. So all of the experience of our younger guys that are still with us when we started rebuilding two years ago should help us have a great season.”
EPHS football players are to show up at the campus gym at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 5.
(Rey Sifuentes Jr. is the sports editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune which is located in East Texas. He is also a 1992 graduate of Eagle Pass High School. Sifuentes can be reached on Facebook and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also follow him through Twitter at @eaglesmavericks.)