32-5A Notebook: Lopez has its man; Pace still waits

With just days before the season is set to begin, one school has its quarterback set while another is still deciding.

Lopez, which had a three-man battle for the job during camp, will go with Edward Naranjo against Harlingen High on Friday night — if he’s healthy.

"We’ll see if he’s good to go this week, if not, then Javier De La Rosa will start for us," Montemayor said.

Naranjo, who Montemayor says is one of the team’s best with the ball in the open field, suffered a high ankle sprain during Lopez’s first scrimmage against La Joya Palmview on Aug. 14. He didn’t play Friday against PSJA North.

While the Lobos have something probable set, the story for Pace is slightly different. Coach Rene Medrano still doesn’t know.

"The competition keeps going, keeps getting better," Medrano said. "That’s all we can say right now."

Pete Valderas, Andrew Soto and Dustin Hernandez continue to fight for the job. Medrano isn’t sure when he’s going to have an answer, but certainly has an idea.

"How about 7:30 on Thursday?" he said jokingly, referencing the Vikings’ game against Edinburg North.

One Last Tuneup

While San Benito will scrimmage next week because of its decision to have spring football, Porter is doing it to get the extra work in.

"That’s what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to get three scrimmages so that we can see where we need to move personnel," Cowboys coach Hector Garcia said. "Nobody has a starting job at quarterback, and we’re still looking."

Rivera, meanwhile, also will scrimmage, but its decision mostly had to do with scheduling.

New coach David Cantu inherited two previously scheduled non-district games and only could find a Week 2 opponent in Corpus Christi Moody.

With that said, Cantu is still a fan of avoiding the off-week between non-district and district games.

"It never hurts to maintain that momentum," Cantu said. "I don’t necessarily think taking a week off is the best thing for a football team."

Finally, A Game

It’s been a long wait for the Greyhounds, but they finally to hit someone else Friday.

In fact, they got to hit two teams.

San Benito played both La Joya Palmview and La Feria on Friday for its first live game action of the season.

"The key for us was to make sure we got our 1s and our 2s on video so we could start correcting our mistakes," Greyhounds coach Spencer Gantt said.

While Gantt was concerned with the pursuit angles his defenders took to the football, he rested easy on the offense side of the ball.

His tailback is going to be pretty good.

"Best thing I saw was Tommy Herrera running the football," Gantt said. "He looked real good." 

Todd Orodenker covers District 32-5A for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.