RIO GRANDE CITY — When Rio Grande City head coach Eduardo Garcia took over the program four years ago, he had one question for his new team: Do you guys want to play, or do you guys want to win?
The Rattlers, who were five years removed from their last postseason appearance, responded with the latter, looking to change Rio Grande City soccer culture.
“Anybody can go play in any recreational league,” Garcia said. “This is a competitive league. There is only one trophy for first place and that’s it. Most of the kids said they wanted to win so I told them we need to start training like mountain climbers, and they had a confused look on their faces. The goal of a mountain climber is to reach the top, so to get to the top we had to train like them.”
Rio Grande City has spent the past four years making the trek to the top, going 1-14 during Garcia’s inaugural season, followed by a COVID-19 marred campaign. Last year, Rio Grande City fell short of a district title, finishing two points behind Roma for first.
The Rattlers finally reached the top of the mountain this season, going 8-1-1 in league play to capture the District 30-5A title.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Rio Grande City center back Javier Romero said. “Coach (Eduardo) Garcia started this project four years ago when we were freshman. We worked so hard for this moment. Last year we missed it by a few points. We lost a lot of seniors from last year, so we thought it was going to be a tough season. It turned out to be one of the best seasons Rio Grande City has had.”
Rio Grande City opens the postseason with a Region IV-5A bi-district matchup against Corpus Christi Flour Bluff at a date, time and location to be determined.
The road to a district title had its bumps, with the Rattlers dropping their district opener against La Joya Palmview 2-1, allowing the game-winning goal during the final four minutes.
The Rattlers responded by outscoring opponents 45-7 over the final nine games, reeling off nine straight victories to secure the district crown.
“That loss was a tough loss for us because it was the first district game of the season,” Rio Grande City midfielder Bryan Rios said. “I personally cried because it was my first game of my senior season. Losing it, we kind of lost hope. But we were able to come back and make a great season out of it.”
The Rattlers deploy a balanced offensive attack, three players all scoring nine or more goals. Rios leads the charge with 11 goals. Robelin Montes and Edgar Cruz are right behind with 10 and nine, respectively.
“I don’t try to focus too much on scoring because then you become selfish and the whole team falls apart,” Rios said. “I just try to distribute for the whole team. We have three top scorers. We all play together.”
“I see it as another coach seeing it as who are they going to defend,” Garcia said. “It’s not only those three guys. I have another three or four guys with five goals, too. It’s a balanced attack so you have to decide who you’re going to guard.”
Despite finishing as district champs, the Rattlers feel like underdogs going into the postseason, playing in the stacked Region IV-5A featuring perennial powers such as Brownsville Porter and Valley View.
The Rattlers are embracing the underdog role, however, hoping to make some noise in the postseason and show the region what Rio Grande City soccer can do.
“Rio Grande City has always been the underdogs,” Romero said. “It doesn’t matter. It’s about how much effort you put into it. We’re excited to play against big schools and show them that just because we haven’t been to playoffs a lot, we can have a big playoff run.”
