Armando's Answers

I love covering high school football in general. I’ve been watching games consistently in South Texas for over 20 years, and to be able to write about them is a dream, regardless of school or classification.

And while 5A and 4A get a lot of pub, I’ve got a special place for the 3A and sub-3A schools.

Port Isabel, Rio Hondo, La Feria, Raymondville and Hidalgo are just a few of the 3As that could probably hang with/beat some 4A and 5A schools.

I’m not big on the “5A is always better” stuff. I’m not saying they’re not, but in quite a few cases, the biggest difference I see with 5A teams is that they just have more kids on the sideline, better equipment and facilities.

Don’t get me wrong. The elite 5A teams in the Valley are good, solid clubs and would easily handle the small schools. You know who they are.

But  I also feel the “little” teams can play, too .

I bring this up because I went from covering the bright lights of San Benito-Los Fresnos Friday night to watching MMA-San Antonio Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon.

The big-game atmosphere at Los Fresnos couldn’t be beat. AC/DC blaring on the loudspeaker and two big-time 5A programs going at it. And I was right there.

And then Saturday, I saw those kids at MMA play with a lot of gusto, no question. I liked the fans in the stands and cadets cheering their team on. And the 15-piece band was jumpin’.

Point of all this is, watching kids play football and give it their all is a joy for me, regardless of what jersey they wear or how many people are at the game. It’s indeed a glorious time of the year and I love what I do.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 12:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.