Weslaco East clinch district title with win over Edcouch-Elsa 5-0 last week

WESLACO - Coming off the school’s first District 63-4A crown, head coach David Castro was concerned heading into this season losing nine starters.

Making the playoffs would’ve been good enough.

But as the season progressed, Castro realized midway through that he had more than just a new crop of talented players. He had players that were willing to fill big shoes while Jose Llanos and Juan Hernandez would be the veteran leaders.

Last week the Wildcats claimed their second-straight district title when they defeated Edcouch-Elsa, giving them a first round bye with a 61-4A team as their first opponent in the playoffs. Overall, East has clinched a playoff spot for the fourth season in a row.

“It felt great winning back-to-back titles,” Hernandez said. “Just want to thank coaches for always being there for us. Since the beginning, I knew we had a good team.”

Hernandez and Llanos proved to be the leading scorers on the squad and both were among the tops in the district. Coming into Friday night’s league finale, Hernandez, only a sophomore, leads the division with 10 goals, while Llanos had eight.

But oddly enough, throughout this season the Wildcats have had trouble finishing games due to lack of scoring.

“We always said, ‘Who’s going to step up,’” Castro said.

On the other hand, the defense was always there. Castro was worried about that side of things because of the talent he lost to graduation. Goalie Severiano Marquez proved to be among the best in district this year along with sweeper Luis Gonzalez, defender Juan Balderas and defensive stopper Nestor Hernandez.

Once the squad hit the halfway point, Castro started thinking not only could they go back to the playoffs, but win district again. The ‘Cats were 6-0-1 at one point with the only setback to Progreso in the second round coming on a cold, muddy and rainy field.

“We gained momentum and the kids started believing,” Castro said.

But Castro goes back to non-district, where the team faced some of the most elite and most respected schools such as Brownsville Porter, Brownsville Pace and Los Fresnos as well as putting the group in summer leagues.

“The kids bought into the philosophy, that’s why we have success,” Castro said.