BROWNSVILLE — As members of the Brownsville St. Joseph football team filed into the fieldhouse for practice, Luigi Cristiano, a father of two current Bloodhounds and a former standout, asked them if their parents went to St. Joseph.
A resounding amount had at least one parent graduate around the same time as Cristiano, 1989.
The Cristiano family, like many others from the community, have poured a lot of blood and sweat into J.T. Canales Field. This season, brothers Lucas and Andre Cristiano have been doing just that and have made huge impacts on the team to follow in their family’s footsteps.
Brownsville St. Joseph athletic director Tino Villarreal has been a coach at the academy for a total of 21 years, nine as the head coach.
“In all that time on campus, the Cristianos, to me, magnify the family spirit of St. Joe,” Villarreal said. “That is one of our five pillars here, family spirit. We have had families like the De La Garzas, and now the Cristianos. If you look back at our history, there is multiple families like that. They represent what St. Joseph Academy is.”
Lucas Cristiano, a senior, and Andre Cristiano, a sophomore, have been terrific this season. Lucas has 397 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions on offense, and four interceptions from his safety position for the Bloodhounds (3-2, 1-1).
Lucas Cristiano is four yards away from his receiving totals from last season and has eclipsed his interception total of three.
Andre Cristiano is on the cusp of surpassing his 2022 totals as well. The sophomore has 272 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He is expected to play defense this week because of injuries to the team.
“They are all competitors, masters of their craft, and they are tough,” Villarreal said of the Cristiano brothers. “It has been an amazing experience, knowing that all three come from the same two parents.”
Luigi Cristiano, the father, played nose guard and graduated in 1989 along with his wife, Terri, who played basketball and ran track. Luigi Cristiano joked that his sons received the athleticism from his wife and their heart from him.
“For me it is a surreal experience, being the fact that I played here and get to watch my kids play here, excel and love the sport is something that is special to me,” he said.
Luigi Cristiano shares his name with his son and former standout quarterback Luigi Cristiano, except for the middle name. The former quarterback is attending the University of Texas but is sometimes on the sidelines, watching and supporting his brothers and former teammates on Friday nights.
Luigi Cristiano, the All-Metro offensive player of the year his senior year, praised how family orientated the school is, as did Lucas and Andre.
“You always hear it from alumni, that we are family,” Lucas Cristiano said. “But this year showed me how much of a family we are.”
The Bloodhounds have dealt with loss off the field and plenty of injuries on the field, so they are relying on young players like Andre Cristiano to step up. He feels comfortable because of all the time he has spent around the game.
“I watched my brothers since I was in seventh and eighth grade, so it does not feel that new,” he said.
Brownsville St. Joseph has a tough meeting with Austin Regents (4-1, 2-0) at 5 p.m. Friday in Austin. The Knights are the defending TAPPS Division II District 3 champs.
DISTRICT SHOWDOWNS
All of the Valley’s sub-5A districts are in action this week, besides the four-team district of Raymondville, Port Isabel, Grulla and Bishop — District 16-4A DII.
Santa Maria (4-1) faces Freer (3-2) in one of the most intriguing sub-5A meetings. The pair meets at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Freer for the District 16-2A DI opener. The Cougars are on a four-game win streak. Freer won last season’s meeting 12-7.
Another interesting meeting is out of District 16-3A DI. Lyford (5-0) and Falfurrias (3-2) meet at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Lyford. RGVSports.com’s No. 1 sub-5A team, Lyford, lost this meeting 26-22 last year.
