RGV Roundup: Trio from Valley earns postseason honors

Three Valleyites have been named to the American Southwest All-Conference football team.

Victor Flores of Mission Veterans Memorial was selected to the ASC defensive second team and Chris Kyle of McAllen High and John Kowalski of McAllen Memorial were voted to the honorable mention defense.

Flores played cornerback for East Texas Baptist University in Marshall this past season. A 5-foot-9, 185-pound junior, Flores finished the season with 36 tackles and three interceptions. He currently has nine picks for his career which ties him for the school record. Flores was one of six conference award winners for ETBU and the only underclassman. The Tigers completed the season 3-7 overall and 3-5 in the ASC.

Kyle was a freshman defensive end at Texas Lutheran (Seguin). The 6-foot, 208-pounder led the conference in a pair of categories with 11 sacks and 17 tackles for losses, both of which set new TLU standards for the Division III era. Earlier in the Bulldogs’ campaign, Kyle was honored as the ACS Defensive Player of the Week when he tied a conference record with four sacks in a single game. Texas Lutheran ended the season winless.

Kowalski (6-8, 245) was a freshman punter at McMurry University in Abilene. His 44 yards per punt average topped the ASC. In addition, the former Mustang had seven punts for more than 50 yards, including a 69-yarder that stood as the second-longest in the ASC during the regular season. It was that long boot plus the fact that he averaged over 52 yards on five punts that earned Kowalski the special teams player of the week in the ASC following a road win over TLU. McMurry finished the season 4-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference.

At the University of Texas, Jorge Martinez of Brownsville St. Joseph is listed on the Longhorns’ football roster as a 6-0, 200-pound junior defensive back. He wears No. 24. The Longhorns, ranked third in the country, play for the Big 12 championship and a potential trip to the BCS championship when they face Nebraska this Saturday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. The game will be televised live at 7 p.m. on ABC.

TENNIS

Brownsville Pace brothers Joshua and Nick Jasso are currently competing for the Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.). Joshua is a junior while Nick is a freshman for the Brewers. Joshua and fellow junior Greg Katz finished runner-up in an earlier event this season after losing in the B Flight finals of the Middlebury Invitational.

GOLF

Brownsville Hanna’s Erika Hernandez, a sophomore, is currently the only Valleyite competing for the University of Incarnate Word (San Antonio) women’s golf team.

Michael A. Pullen is a former sportswriter in the Rio Grande Valley. His column runs every Tuesday. College news can be reported to him via e-mail at rgvroundup@yahoo.com.