Rio Hondo, La Feria to battle for one postseason spot

RIO HONDO — So it has come to this.

One game, one win, one playoff spot.

The season finale tonight between La Feria and Rio Hondo at Bobcat Stadium is as important as can be.

For that reason, it’s the Valley Morning Star’s Week 10 Game of the Week.

“Basically, we put ourselves in this position. It’s do or die,” Rio Hondo head coach Rocky James said. “Our backs are against the wall and our kids know the importance of this game.”

La Feria (4-5, 3-3) comes in eyeing its second straight playoff spot under Coach Elifonso Esquivel.

“I told the kids that they’ve worked hard and stuck together through the hard times,” Esquivel said. “And good things happen to those who work hard. If we can show up and play Lion Football, we feel we can win. We feel we match up pretty well with them (Rio Hondo).”

Rio Hondo (4-5, 4-2) has been playing solid ball as of late.

After dropping the district opener to Zapata, the Bobcats won four straight as they got back to their style of football: running the ball and playing good defense.

Then last week at unbeaten Lyford, the Cats held a 7-6 halftime lead before the Bulldogs barked back and won 21-14.

The Cats have had one of three backs carry the load for them during their resurgence.

Trevor David (651 yards 7 TDs) leads the team in rushing and is fifth in 32-3A. As a bonus, he’s got over 80 tackles from his linebacker spot.

Quarterback Isaiah De la Cruz has taken the role of leader and run with it—literally.

De la Cruz is second on the team with 567 yards. Alan Garza has come on and chipped in with 498 yards.

Importantly, David and De la Cruz were pillars on last year’s team that advanced to the regional quarters.

“They’ve got more experience than we do. They’ve got more seniors,” Esquivel said “But our kids aren’t playing like sophomores or juniors right now.”

Indeed, the Lions come in feeling pretty good.

La Feria cranked out a season-best 373 yards offensively last week against Hidalgo.

An impressive 303 of those yards came via the pass from Justin Rodriguez. It was the best outing for Rodriguez, who is third in 32-3A in passing yardage (1,382) and second in TD tosses (14).

The main target in the Lion passing game has been super sophomore Gilbert Jimenez (28 catches, 519 yards 7 TDs). Jimenez has caught three scoring passes in his past two games.

Also in on the party are Freddy Gonzalez (29-202) and Jose Martinez (14-349, 4 TDs).

“We know they like to throw the ball and they’ve been very successful at throwing the ball deep,” James said of the Lions. “But we feel our game against Lyford last week was a good tuneup for what we’ll see from La Feria.”

Meanwhile, the Bobcats have been to the postseason the past four seasons and James said his squad wants to make it five straight.

“We’ve talked about keeping the tradition going,” he said. “The kids know we’ve had a very successful program and they don’t want the ride to end.”

Armando Garza covers District 32-3A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers.