When Eastside and Navarro face off on Thursday night in an all-Austin ISD District 12-5A Division II contest, one team will walk away with a feeling they haven’t experienced in a while.
Navarro is currently harboring a 14-game losing streak. Its last win came on Nov. 27, 2020, when it beat LASA 38-0.
Eastside, meanwhile, will be looking to snap a 32-game skid that dates all the way back to its 21-6 win over the Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering on Oct. 27, 2017.
But, despite the lack of wins over the past couple years, these programs are making progress and changing lives off the field.
Achievements that can’t necessarily be seen looking only at the win-loss column.
Ahead of Thursday night, where one team will get to experience the thrill of victory, here’s the story of the daily gains these programs are making.
Gains that their coaches hope will soon be reflected in the win column.
Eastside: After One-Year Hiatus, Panthers Back Competing at the Varsity Level
Eastside Early College High School opened back in 2008 after the Texas Education Agency reconstituted Johnston High School following five years of subpar test scores.
However, since it opened, the Panthers have had a relatively inconsistent varsity football history. After playing their first varsity season in 2010, the Panthers played at a sub-varsity level from 2011-2015 before returning to play at the varsity level again in 2016.
But last year, as Eastside moved into its new campus at the site of the old L.C. Anderson High School, Panther head coach Luis Becerra had to make a tough decision.
Eastside would take yet another season away from varsity football.
Eastside takes the field ahead of its week 3 contest against Luling. (Credit: Luis Becerra)
“We weren’t sure what the numbers were going to look like, leaving the previous location,” Becerra said. “Also, due to our team being so young, we thought it’d be in the program’s best interest to play a JV schedule for one season to try and grow the program back and develop some of the younger kids.”
To his delight, Becerra said his team competed well in their JV games a year ago.
Now, they’re back competing at the varsity level this season. Becerra said the Panthers currently have 33 players in the program, but they’re young. The Panthers have just two seniors and a couple juniors on their roster.
So far, it has been a bit of a baptism by fire.
“You know, it’s definitely a growing pain experience for the younger guys,” Becerra said. “But sometimes there’s no better way to get experience than getting into a live game situation.”
As the Panthers continue to gain that experience on the varsity level, Becerra said he and his staff have had to remind each other of their vision and expectations for the program.
After starting the season 0-4 with three losses by at least 30 points and a close 28-26 defeat to Austin Achieve in week two, Becerra said he sat down with his players during their bye week last week to reflect on the challenge that they were undertaking.
To get his message across, he dug into the history books.
In its inaugural season in 2010, Eastside went 1-9 and scored 109 points.
After their first varsity hiatus, the Panthers finished 2-8 with 59 points scored in 2016. Then in 2017, the year before Becerra arrived, the Panthers were 1-8 with just 34 total points scored.
This year, the Panthers are making progress on the scoreboard. They have already scored 48 points in their first four games. Becerra said if they keep that rate of 12 points per game up over the course of the 10-game season, it would be the most points ever scored by an Eastside team in a single season.
Becerra said that being able to communicate this perspective to his players helped them understand the monumental task they have been embarking on the past couple months.
Eastside warms up before a game at House Park. (Credit: Luis Becerra)
“So maybe from a wins-loss perspective, we’re not where we want to be, but seeing these numbers have made a difference for us to understand that as long as we stay on track, we’ll be okay,” Becerra said. “For the kids to see the numbers laid out, the coaches have seen over the last week a different mindset in practice.”
Just this week, one Eastside player received a prestigious opportunity that would have caused him to miss practice on Wednesday. At first, he declined the opportunity because in his mind, he couldn’t miss practice the day before a game.
Becerra eventually convinced him that it was too important of an opportunity to pass up, but that kind of commitment is what Becerra is increasingly beginning to see within the Panther program.
That buy-in gives Becerra and his staff hope for the future of the Panther program.
“I think we’re going to continue to head in the right direction,” Becerra said. “I think we may just start pushing on the gas a little bit, going there a little faster.”
Navarro: Coach Velasquez seeks to continue Program’s Progress
Across the field from Eastside on Thursday night will be a Navarro program that has been on a positive trajectory itself.
The Vikings have a long varsity football history dating back to 1961, but they’ve been trying to rebuild the program in recent years, especially after COVID, which led to a dip in players in the Vikings program.
This offseason, Sebastian Velasquez was promoted to head coach from the offensive coordinator position he has held the past three years. He said the progress the Vikings having been making the past couple months is evident.
Viking Athletics Welcomes Head Football Coach – Sebastian Velasquez https://t.co/patIEkszN9
— Austin Navarro HS Athletics (@Viks_Athletics) June 25, 2022
About 35 freshmen are involved in the Navarro football program this year. It’s the most Velasquez remembers during his time at the school.
However, players often come into the Navarro program lacking football experience. Many don’t play in pee wee leagues growing up and Navarro’s main middle school only offers athletics after school.
“We’re getting them on campus as freshmen as real raw athletes,” Velasquez said. “[They] haven’t really touched a weight or have experience lifting weights, so that’s really been a struggle for us. [We’re] having to build athletes while also teaching them how to play the game.”
Navarro takes the field ahead of its district opener against Travis. (Credit: Jacob Anderson)
To combat that challenge, Navarro recently started a powerlifting program and continues to encourage its athletes to participate in track and field. The Vikings’ staff hopes these extra workouts will help their players maximize their potential on the football field.
But it’s not just on-field struggles that Navarro must deal with.
Velasquez said his staff works hard to make sure their players get proper nutrition. It’s a reality at a school where, according to Texas Tribune, 82% of students are economically disadvantaged.
He said as many as half the kids in his program primarily get their daily meals at school. They’re served breakfast and lunch there and then can take any leftover food home for their dinner.
Bryan Nieto (6) celebrates with Jose Molina (3) after scoring a touchdown against Travis. (Credit: Jacob Anderson)
Many of their parents work two to three jobs to make ends meet, while some of his players immediately go to work after practice.
With all the responsibilities his players have on their plates, Velasquez said he’s proud of the work they are putting in.
“We have a lot of players that come to practice and then they’re going to work right after practice, staying up till 12, and coming back to school the next day,” Velasquez said. “They do a good job of finding time to put work in.”
And even with their busy schedules off the field, the Vikings are making progress on it.
Just a year ago, Travis creamed the Vikings 50-7 in district play.
Yet when they met on the gridiron two weeks ago, Navarro took the game to overtime, falling to the Rebels in a 27-21 overtime heartbreaker.
Velasquez said it was another step in the right direction for his program as the Vikings prepare for their second district contest against Eastside.
Snapping the Streak
Heading into Thursday’s game, Velasquez and his Navarro squad are in a position they haven’t really been in the past couple years.
They’ll enter this game as the favorites.
“It’s always been a good game between us and them [Eastside],” Velasquez said. “I’ve been preaching to the kids the Dave Campbell’s Rankings. It says we are the superiors, so we need to do what we’re supposed to do.”
And if they can walk out as winners on Thursday night?
Velasquez said it would be a big boost of confidence in the direction that the Viking program is headed.
“[A win] is definitely a long time coming. We’ve put a lot of work in,” Velasquez said. “This game for us would set us in the right direction. I’m challenging our kids to play like a playoff team. The tide is turning, so hopefully our kids bring it [on Thursday]. They’ve got to show up and play.”
On the opposite sideline, Becerra said wants his players to know how important they are to him. He tells his players each year that behind his six-year-old daughter, they are the most important thing in his life.
“I tell these young men, I’m always going to be there,” Becerra said. “I’m always going to be there to put in a call for you when you need something. I’m always going to be there to help. I can’t put into words what these boys mean to me.”
And as their head coach, Becerra said he wants to continue to do everything in his power to get them just one night where they can celebrate as winners whether that’s on Thursday against Navarro or in another game down the road.
“I cannot express how much I just want them to have a taste of victory,” Becerra said. “If I could give them anything, it would be for them to get a little taste of what it’s like to walk off the field, not only knowing that they played their hearts out, but being able to look at the scoreboard and see that we’re on the right side of it that night.”
For one of these coaches, Thursday night will be that night their players get to experience that adrenaline rush of winning they’ve yearned for the past couple seasons.
For the other?
They’ll just keep on making strides off the field, impacting their players’ lives daily, until their squad finally has their night where their improvements off the field are finally recognized by a victory on it.
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