Bear Pride heads to Edinburg North

Perhaps the Bears were just hibernating before the start of the District 31-5A season?

Following an 0-3 start, PSJA High opened district play with a convincing 42-0 rout of Harlingen South last week. The Bears look to follow up that victory at 7:30 p.m. Friday night when they visit Edinburg North at Cats Stadium.

According to PSJA coach Mel Rios, it wasn't so much that his Bears were sleeping on the early part of the season as much as it was that they were a wounded group of Bears that finally became healthy.

"We feel like we're healthy, and anytime that you're healthy you feel like you have a chance. And that's the way we felt last week going into the Harlingen South game," Rios said. "The previous weeks we didn't have everybody. Now with everybody healthy we felt good about our chances going into the Harlingen South game and we played well enough to win.

"We're not where we want to be yet but we'r eworking on it."

If PSJA (1-3 overall, 1-0 District 31-5A) is to be the contender many thought it would be before the season, it'll have to find a way to slow down Edinburg North's Marco Adriana. Don't think for one minute that the Bears' coaches didn't watch tape from Harlingen High's 44-21 win over the Cougars last week during which Adriana was held to 23 yards rushing.

Despite his slow night, the speedy Adriana still leads the district with 664 yards rushing and is averaging 9.9 yards per tote.

"He's a key factor on their team. He's fast and we're going to have to try to slow him down," Rios said. "They pass the ball the ball well, too. We're going to have to pull double duty here."

PSJA, meanwhile, showed plenty of "Bear Pride" during last week's dismantling of the 2006 and '07 district champs. The Bears outgained the Hawks 523-229, led by running back Angel Marroquin who rushed for 171 yards on 14 attempts and scored three touchdowns, including a 73-yard sprint during the first quarter.

Ruben Garcia added 102 yards on just six attempts and Robert Torres added two rushing TDs for the Bears. Not to be left out, quarterback Trey Ramirez completed 7-of-10 passes for 180 yards and a 34-yard score to Jonathan Monroy.

Todd Mavreles is the West Valley Sports Editor for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.