SANTA MARIA — Monday marked the start of the 2024 Texas high school football season and a new tradition in Santa Maria with Midnight Madness as the Cougars’ football, volleyball, and cross-country teams held their first official practices as soon as the clock hit 12 a.m.
Santa Maria head coach Israel Gracia said Santa Maria’s start of Midnight Madness was to begin the 2024-25 athletic year with a bang.
“I just wanted to kickstart the season and something new for these kids. I wanted them to feel the energy and you can feel the energy here tonight,” Gracia said.
Santa Maria is coming off a 7-4 finish in 2023 and has 13 returning starters ready to take another step forward this season. Junior quarterback Miguel Alaniz and junior running back Daniel Martinez will be key offensively, while sophomore Jason Aleman and junior Justin Martinez will play key roles on the front line.
The Cougars will be competing in a new-look District 16-2A DI this year with Freer, Premont, Refugio, Riviera-Kaufer, Skidmore-Tynan and Three Rivers, and are scheduled to open the regular season against La Villa on Aug. 30 at Cougar Stadium in Santa Maria.
Santa Maria wasn’t the only team to hit the gridiron at the strike of midnight.
Over at Elsa, the Yellow Jackets kicked off Year 2 under head coach Victor Cardenas with the return of midnight madness. Excitement was in the air as Edcouch-Elsa took the field at 12:01 a.m. for the start of what many expect to be a dominant season.
“Midnight madness is very exciting because the fans come out, the band, the cheerleaders, just everyone out there under the lights,” Edcouch-Elsa linebacker Matthew Cano said. “It’s exciting and feels great.”
Cano is one of roughly 30 seniors returning for the Yellow Jackets this year, including 18 which are slated to start. The senior is the heart and soul of Edcouch’s “Thunder Defense”, tallying 134 total tackles, 22 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks one year ago.
He’ll be joined by seven other returning starters on defense, setting them up for a potentially dominant campaign.
The offense brings back equally electric playmakers, including quarterback Elijah Trevino. The dynamic signal caller lit up the competition last year, racking up 2,250 total yards and 30 total touchdowns to lead Edcouch to their fifth straight playoff appearance.
Day 1 of practice was just the first step for the Yellow Jackets quest for their first district title since 2013, eyeing an undefeated season and a deep playoff run this season.
There is higher expectations this season,” Trevino said. “We’re expected to go deeper and have a better record. Our main goal right now is to win a district championship. With all our guys and the experience, we feel ready. This could be our season. We’re just all ready for it.”
Optimism is plentiful for the Valley’s lone TAPPS team, Brownsville St. Joseph, as they hosted their 10th annual midnight practice.
Bloodhounds head coach Tino Villarreal has seen the practice evolve into the shindig it is now after adopting the tradition when he took over as head coach.
“I am just so happy it has become a community event,” Villarreal said. “Ten years ago there was no music, no fans, it was just a bunch of guys excited to hit the football field. Now, we get to share it as family with the cross country team, the cheerleaders, their peers and their parents. It is a pretty good experience. We have a lot of alums that played for me that are out here as well. I couldn’t be more to proud to coach St. Joe and a community like that.”
The Bloodhounds have high expectations for themselves in TAPPS 5A DII, not just their district. Brownsville St. Joseph has one DI talent for sure in Diego De la Cruz. The senior lineman has offers from UTRGV, Incarnate Word and UTEP.
Brownsville St. Joseph also has arguably the best receiver in the Valley with Claudio Torres and Gavin Cisneros, a returning quarterback that showed real promise last season, and a host of other talented Brownsville athletes.
“We are very excited, it is going to be a good season,” De la Cruz said. “There are rankings, projections and stuff like that, but we do not look at it, we just focus on ourselves, on the team and what the coaches have told us.”
Villarreal and De la Cruz said the team had a good offseason together and they were out there Sunday night preparing for the long football season that can last into December if you are lucky.
Other teams taking the field during Monday’s return to practice included Santa Rosa, San Benito, among several others.
Some teams will have to wait until next Monday to get things started, with only sub-5A teams and 5A/6A teams who didn’t compete in spring ball able to begin practice yesterday.
