By The Numbers: 4-score

By now, most people know that any team coached by Mario Peña is known for a tenacious defense.

Yes, tenacious.

For more than 20 years, Peña teams have played with the aggression and intensity their coach showed as a standout player at Mission in the mid-1970s.

Over Peña's career, there has been a slew of dominating defensive performances by his squads.

In 1992, La Joya began to be known for defense with a No. 3 state ranking.

In 1993, Peña's Coyotes came into San Benito and shut down a state-ranked Greyhound offense in a 10-7 bi-district upset.

Two seasons later however, the Coyotes pulled off an even bigger heist.

Another bi-district game, another state-ranked offense in Harlingen.

And another shutdown.

La Joya suffocated the Cardinals and went on to a stunning 4-0 win. Two safeties by the defense provided all the scoring.

With only two days left until the start of the 2008 season, the game that saw two safeties is the focus of the latest installment of the Star's "By the Numbers" series.

"What made that unit special was that I only had two kids returning," said Peña, now in his sixth season as head coach at San Benito. "Nine of them were new kids. But we had already established tradition at La Joya. Our kids bought into the framework of what we were doing."

The Coyotes' unit was stacked with talent.

Paced by middle linebacker Joey Garza, La Joya was solid.

Ismael Mendoza and Jose Ornelas were the outside linebackers, while Hipolito Perez, Javier Solis and Santos Gonzalez anchored the D-line.

Patrolling the secondary was Ben Cantu, Eric Jackson, Rudy Villarreal, Juan Cuadros and Jaime Martinez.

"It was a special unit," Peña said. "They bought into our style of play. We teach aggression. We don't do anything that's unethical, we're just very aggressive and very physical.

"Everywhere I've been at, the kids are going to give you their all. That's for sure."

Against coach Bob Boyd's Cards, La Joya had its work cut out for them.

The Cardinals went 8-2 in the regular season, falling only to San Benito and MMA.

But Harlingen could score. Harlingen averaged 433 yards per outing that season, the first Redbird team to do so. That total was good enough to be ranked among the state's best in 5A. In fact, they averaged more than 500 yards the first half of the season.

In addition, that '95 team was the first with two 1,000-yard rushers (Marco Acosta 1,345 yards, Chris Rupert 1,031) and a 1,000-yard passer in Adrian Rubio (1,394).

So the Cards could move the ball.

But not that night.

The Coyotes, who were in Peña' seventh season, stuffed Harlingen to the tune of minus-37 yard rushing. When combined with a paltry 119 passing, a grand total of 82 was the end result.

La Joya, the state's No. 1 defense in terms of rushing yards allowed per game (24.8), also did not allow a penetration (inside their its 20-yard line) to Harlingen the entire game.

Peña said Mother Nature became a player before the game, as showers drenched McAllen Memorial Stadium to slow the field down.

"I guess their front whipped our front," Boyd told the VMS that night. "It's very disappointing."

La Joya got on the board first when Garza tackled Rubio in the end zone with 1:32 left in the second quarter. Garza later added an interception and big sack.

"We controlled the trenches and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback," Peña said. "But I can also recall their coaching staff telling me ‘We knew we were in trouble when you guys started your pregame warmups fired up'."

The second safety came when an errant snap sailed 20 yards and out of the end zone with 4:58 to go in the game.

"We felt we could shut them down," Garza was quoted. "We watched films while they slept. I hope now people will give us the respect we deserve."

Armando Garza covers high school football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at armandog@valleystar.com.