HARLINGEN:
It looks like Harlingen found a solid running game. Before the season stated, all the talk surrounded a so called QB contraversy between senior Ryan Koite and junior John Murphy. Head coach Manny Gomez would rather call his situation a “luxury.”

The things is that on Friday it probably wouldn’t have mattered if Gomez played QB. Running back Ted Snavely set the tone from the start en route to a career-high 285 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

Indeed the passing game wasn’t much-needed that night (26 yards passing on 3-of-10 attempts). The yardstick more resembled that one of a Port Isabel team. But the potential to air it out is there. Harlingen will continue to go with its two-man rotation this week.

But the offense is Snavely for now. The senior is bigger and faster than last year. If the offensive line keeps blocking like they did against Los Fresnos, look for Snavely to have a big season.

LOS FRESNOS:
The Falcons expected to win on Friday. Success in the past few season justified such confidence. Which isn’t a bad thing. If you look at teams like Harlingen, Edcouch-Elsa and Port Isabel, the play with the same confidence week in and week out. Even in a “rebuilding” season.

So the fact the Falcons now expect to win ona yearly basis is good. Great actually. It says a lot about what Scott Ford has done with the program there. But the fact remained that Los Fresnos didn’t have the Spriner Twins, Jeremy and Justin. They were also missing other key cogs from last year’s fun bunch including Esia Rivera and Luis Campos.

The Falcons aren’t rebuilding, instead they’re reloading. And Ford has a good arsenal for the upcoming season. Sometimes all you need is a good wake up call to start moving things in the right direction. QB Danny Silva looked comfortable in the pocket but he overthrew a few receivers early on. Receiver Carlos Hernandez had agood game too. And Jorge Mata picked up where he left off. Running back Danny Mendez ran hard and made some nice runs. All together, Ford and the Falcons will get up from this defeat, get ready for Kingsville this week and get back on track.

just the other day we were discussing who we thought the top five head football coaches in the Valley were in the last 20 years.

there’s been a few great ones but here’s my list (in no particular order).

Jesse Longhofer, Harlingen
Joe Solis, Edcouch-Elsa
Robert Vela, Edcouch-Elsa and Edinburg
Sonny Detmer, Mission
Richard Flores, Edinburg

Longhofer, Detmer and Vela (at Edinburg) have the distinction of being the only coaches to lead their teams to three postseason wins in Class 5A.

Flores, much like Vela at E-E, can be held responsible for building those programs into the proud and tradition-filled programs they are today.

Vela guided the Yellowjackets to their first district title in 1989. That season, La Maquina Amarilla reached the state quarterfinals.

Flores build the Edinburg Bobcats into one of the premier programs in South Texas in the 1980s.

Solis coached at Lyford in the early to mid 1990s but will be mostly remembered for his current ride of success at E-E. As Solis enters his fifth season as Yellowjackets head coach, E-E’s won four District 32-4A titles under his watch. The ‘Jackets also own a Valley record streak of 36 consecutive regular season wins - including three straight 10-0 seasons.

HONORABLE MENTION
There’s a few other coaches that come to mind like San Benito and Port Isabel’s Tommy Roberts. Roberts had success at PI when he led the Tarpons to the state semis in 1981. But Roberts will be mostly remembered for building the Greyhounds into a winner again following years of futility.

Another one is Alex Leal. Coach Leal sits two games from earning his 200th career win. He’s coached at Rio Grande City, Port Isabel, McAllen, Harlingen South and is in his second tour of duty at Raymondville.

Tony Villarreal took the Tarpons to the state semis in 1994 and has enjoyed success everywhere he’s been. At the moment, he’s got the Weslaco Panthers dreaming of their first district title since 1998 when they shared the crown with Brownsville Rivera. Tony V. is in his third season at Weslaco.

But that’s just my opinion. Remember these are coaches that have coached in the past 20 years only. What do you guys think?

eladio jaimez, valley morning star