PHARR — PSJA North’s final two weeks of the 2020 season personified the roller coaster for high school football teams in Texas combating the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The Raiders felt the thrill of victory after defeating Brownsville Hanna 28-21 in the bi-district round to open the playoffs. Days later, the night before their area-round playoff game against San Antonio Taft, head coach Marcus Kaufmann revealed to his group PSJA North would have to forfeit the game due to COVID-19.
“It was heartbreaking hearing the news. It wasn’t the way we wanted it to end, but that made us work harder this year,” senior running back Isaac Gonzalez said.
The returning group of Raiders feel like they have unfinished business to address. They’re prepared to take what they feel was rightfully theirs and return to the second round of the playoffs.
“That’s all they talk about. They’re the ones that came up with the ‘unfinished business’ line — our season motto is unfinished business and they came up with that because they know they left a lot out there,” Kaufmann said. “We had some goals we wanted to achieve last year. If you don’t reach them, that’s one thing; if you’re not allowed to even try to reach them, that’s a whole ‘nother deal. That’s what hurt, we weren’t allowed to, and that’s what happens. That was a good life lesson — live every moment to its fullest because you never know when it’s going to be taken away.”
This season, Kaufmann’s squad brings back a loaded group with 18 returning starters on both sides of the ball. The offense features all 11 full-time players from a season ago.
The Raiders feel that continuity and experience playing together will pay off in District 31-6A, one of the Rio Grande Valley’s most competitive districts with nine teams.
“We started off a little slow last year because we didn’t have a lot of chemistry. The whole Valley saw it going into towards the end of last season, we started growing together as a brotherhood and started racking up points,” Ram Martinez, a three-year starter at left tackle, said. “We’re looking to pick up where we left off — unfinished business.”
The motor of the PSJA North offense is Gonzalez, last year’s leading rusher in the Rio Grande Valley (1,322 total yards, 10 total touchdowns) and The Monitor’s 2020 All-Area Football Offensive Player of the Year. Gonzalez is a four-year letterman who came in as a shifty runner but has grown into an all-around back who doesn’t shy away from contact.
“Go hard every single play, can’t get tired, gotta keep pushing no matter how many times I touch the ball,” Gonzalez said of his running style. “My mentality is to run hard every single play, put in work so when those lights come on Friday night, I do what I got to do.”
The Raiders offense also included seven freshmen starters last season led by quarterback Ale Aparicio. He threw for 689 yards, ran for 512 yards and scored 10 total touchdowns. Kaufmann said a full offseason has benefitted the sophomore signal-caller as he enters the year with a complete grasp and control of the PSJA North offense.
“They did a great job of growing every single ball game. We were peaking at the right time, and I don’t even think we were peaking, I think we were still on the rise,” Kaufmann said. “They haven’t skipped a beat, they’ve been here all summer. … The older kids have taken in the younger kids and the younger kids have not shied away from anything at all. They love being out here and we love having them around.”
The Raiders defense will be spearheaded by one of the top returning defensive playmakers in safety Cookie Ramirez. The senior tallied 63 total tackles, four tackles for loss, three sacks and two fumble recoveries last season. Senior defensive end/receiver/running back Jack Lugo will also be key in the PSJA North pass rush.
“The defense is ferocious. Their whole mentality is ‘hit you in the mouth, then keep hitting you in the mouth,’” Lugo said. “We’re trying to get 1% better everyday and that’s what we’ve done. We’ve grown together between individual workouts and team workouts here, we feel like we’re a better team at this point than we were last year.”
PSJA North kicks off the regular season with non-district matchups against Brownsville Rivera on Aug. 27 and Edcouch-Elsa on Sept. 2, both at PSJA ISD Stadium.
The Raiders’ 31-6A opener should be a barn-burner against defending district champion Edinburg Vela on Sept. 10 at PSJA ISD Stadium in Pharr.
“We’re going to take it game by game and take care of business,” Gonzalez said.
