Lopez coach Leal selected as Coach of the Year

The Lopez Lobos have won four straight championships in five years and for The Brownsville Herald 2008 All-Metro Coach of the Year Alberto Leal, his latest piece of hardware to the trophy case has a bit more sentiment.

With only two upper classman, Leal and his Lobos once again found a way to howl at the top of the 32-5A mountain for the second consecutive year.

"It's all about the kids," Leal said. "This one feels special with all the young kids we had. I had high expectations and they stepped up to the challenge."

First baseman Michael Sanchez has enjoyed all four championships along with Leal and said it was difficult to put his time as a Lobo baseball player into words.

"He was a great coach," Sanchez said. "He taught us so many things and he would tell me that I had a chance to be the first kid to have four district titles and I really didn't soak it in until it happened."

Porter had all but locked up the district heading into the final game of the season facing a Hanna team that had been out of the playoff run for weeks.

Yet, the Golden Eagles played the roll of spoiler to perfection defeating the Cowboys 1-0 while Lopez defeated Rivera 8-3 to give them a share of the 32-5A title.

"There were so many young and new faces on the team this year," Leal said. "And to have a group of freshman and sophomores carry the tradition we've had here is pretty sweet."

Just as district play began the Lobos took two big hits losing its top starters Carlos and Alberto Rodriguez indefinitely to shoulder injuries.

Leal called upon catcher Mague Trevino and infielder Justin Granado to man the ship which turned out to be the best coaching decision of the season.

Trevino and Granado combined for a remarkable 9-1 record with a 2.60 earned run average, including Granado's 2-1 district win over Cowboys ace Henry Garcia as he tossed a complete game three-hitter.

"When our number one and two starters went down I gave the team the old adversity speech," Leal said. "They were either going to lay down or step up to the plate. Justin and Mague saved our season and we couldn't have won it without them."

With such a young core of players the Lobos don't look to be going away any time soon and Leal is eager to see how much his sophomore class develops heading into their junior year.

"I want to see them grow," Leal said. "We're going to be losing Mike and its impossible to replace a player like that, so it'll be in-teresting next year."