By Rey Sifuentes Jr.

     C.C. Winn High School’s only scrimmage of the season, held on Saturday, ended in a 3-3 tie against Laredo Cigarroa.

     “On the plus side, our quarterback (Jaime Vargas) was solid,” Head Coach George Ruiz said. “He took command of the offense and did a good job. We put together two pretty good sustained drives where the boys executed everything the way they were supposed to. We had a young tailback (Deion Alonso) who had a pretty good outing against Cigarroa, including one particular run of about fifty yards while also scoring two touchdowns.”

     There are, however, a few things the Mavericks still need to polish up on.

     “Offensively we moved the ball inside the 30-yard line twice but did not score, which is something we definitely want top improve on,” Ruiz said. “Defensively we did pretty good, even though we gave up three big plays that cost us three touchdowns. That is something we are going to try and address to make sure we do not give up any big plays on defense. Aside from those three big plays our defense played pretty well.”

     Ruiz admitted that he only used about ten to fifteen percent of his playbook against the Toros – a practice he said was statewide.

     “Sometimes there is not a lot of time to put everything in,” Ruiz said. “We had two weeks of practice and then had to be ready for the scrimmage so we are working on fundamentals most of that time. We only put in a certain number of plays that we use during a scrimmage, and we make adjustments as the season goes along depending on the type of defense each week’s opponent is using. I think that holds true for every team in the state, you start off with only a certain number of plays and add on every week.”

     CCWN kicks off its season by visiting Uvalde this Friday at 7:30 p.m.

     “They are a pretty big and solid team,” Ruiz said. “Uvalde scrimmage Laredo Martin on Friday night, we went to go watch them, so we know that we are going to be in a battle against them. We are getting ready to go head to head and being victorious in the end because we know we are going to face a quality football team.”

     The Mavericks will have four non-district contests this season to brush up their execution, as opposed to only one in years past.

     “It is a good thing because we only used a small percentage of our playbook during Saturday’s scrimmage,” Ruiz said. “In the past, this game would be our only practice run and then we would be right in the thick of our district schedule next week. But with four non-district games, we can now figure out what things are working out for our players. We have some time to adjust as we go along.”

Eagles will be tested by Wildcats in season opener

By Rey Sifuentes Jr.

     Eagle Pass High School wrapped up its summer football session with a scrimmage against Crystal City on Friday.

     “We expected to come out in our last preseason scrimmage and take control on both sides of the ball,” Head Coach Tom Gonzalez said. “And that is exactly what we did.”

     Gonzalez was gratified with how his defensive unit performed. 

     “Our defense really played hard the whole game,” Gonzalez said. “They were also hitting people in a manner that we have not seen in a while, they had plenty of aggression. So we were very happy to see our defense play with such intensity.”

     The Eagles won six touchdowns to two, but Gonzalez would still like to see his first unit get going sooner.

     “We scored all six of our touchdowns on their first team defense,” Gonzalez said. “Crystal City scored twice on our second team defense. We still need to improve on coming out full speed from the very beginning. We have a tendency of starting off slow, especially on offense.”

     EPHS kicks off this season by visiting Weslaco East at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Gonzalez expects the Wildcats to hammer their way down the field.

     “They like to pound the ball offensively, their players are very big and strong and their forte is their strength,” Gonzalez said. “Their offensive line is huge, their running backs run hard and their quarterback is a great athlete who throws the ball very well. Weslaco east does not throw so much but probably about ten times during a game.”

     The Eagles will have to equally belligerent.

     “We have to be aggressive on defense, stay low up front and make sure we do not get blown out of the hole,” Gonzalez said. “They like to blast their opponents right up the middle with their two backs leading up in the hole. So we will have to be able to stop all of that.”

     Eagle Pass has three non-district games this season to get itself in synch.

     “I guess it is kind of a good thing in that it helps prepare you for district,” Gonzalez said. “But we are also playing some tough teams, we scheduled Alamo Heights and Weslaco East, both of whom who have gone three rounds and beyond in the playoffs. We also scheduled Boerne Champion for a scrimmage because we know they are number three in San Antonio . It is one of those things where we are trying to get ready for district because some of our opponents in 29-5A are just as tough.”

     The Eagles have two open dates instead of the typical one this season. A big part of that is other teams reluctance of making the trip down here.

     “It can very hard to find games, for teams to agree to come down south,” Gonzalez said. “Especially when they are from San Antonio where there are a large numbers of team who have several opponents nearby and do not want to travel. The teams in Laredo ISD also did not want to play us, neither did Uvalde, so it can be very tough to bring opponents to come down here.”