Volume 2, Number 3
Mr. Eduardo Lopez, Athletic Director
January 2015
Saint Joseph Academy Headlines Brownsville Herald’s Sports
Stories of 2014 with Three of the Top 10 Events of the Year
# 6: The Lady Bloodhound Basketball team beat perennial powerhouses San Antonio Antonian and
Incarnate Word High School to be crowned the TAPPS 5A District 2 Champions. The Lady Bloodhounds
finished their season last February, not only with a District Championship, but a trip to the TAPPS Elite 8
in the playoffs, and a 37 and 3 record.
# 9: Track and Field athlete, Megan Lopez pole vaulted a foot higher than her personal best to outduel
Kelsey Haertling from Argyle Liberty Christian to win the gold medal at the TAPPS 5A State Track and
Field Meet. Megan recorded an 11 foot vault, the best vault in the valley for 2014 and the second best alltime for a Brownsville-Metro area athlete.
# 10: Gaby Garza broke an Age Division State record for the 300 Meter Hurdles at the Summer State
Track and Field Meet for the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation. Although Gaby, as The Brownsville
Herald states was still technically an 8th grader, her time of 44.13 was the 3rd fastest recorded time ever
by a Valley Athlete.
Click here to view - Area’sTop 10 Best Sports stories the Brownsville Herald, December 31, 2014.
Varsity Boys Soccer in the Hunt for a
District Championship
Our Varsity Boys Soccer team, led by Coach Tino Villarreal in his second year,
has come out making a statement in TAPPS 5A District 2 play. Two pivotal
district games were played recently at home against San Antonio Antonian on
Dec. 12 and 13. During Friday night’s game after being down 1 to 0 for most of
the first half, the Bloodhounds scored two goals in the second half to take the
lead. Antonian responded with a goal late in the game to tie it up. After two
golden goal extra time 10 minute periods, the game had to be decided by
penalty kicks. Andres Rico connected on the last penalty kick to give Saint Joe
the victory 4 to 3 on kicks, to record a 3 to 2 win. The next day the
Bloodhounds had another thrilling victory, 1 to 0 to sweep the Antonian
Apaches for the weekend. The Boys Soccer team has opened the season with a
6 and 1 record.
Basketball: JV Girls and 7th Grade Boys Lead Tournament
Play in 2014
Besides non-district games in November and December, our Boys and Girls Basketball teams often
play in tournaments to help get them ready for pivotal games in January and February. Several teams
had good showings during Tournament Play including our JV Girls Basketball team who won the
Athlos tournament by beating Idea Alamo and Idea Donna in the first two rounds and then Idea
Mission in the Championship game by a score of 32 to 24. Our 7th Grade Boys Basketball Team also
had a high placing this season when they finished second at the La Feria Tournament. The 7th Grade
boys beat Harlingen Calvary Christian and the Hidalgo Pirates in the first two rounds before losing the
championship game in overtime to the host team, La Feria Lions.
Impressive Start for Varsity Boys Basketball
Team
The Varsity Boys Basketball team has opened the season with a 14 and 6 record,
including two victories over ranked teams in the Rio Grande Valley top 10,
Hidalgo and Brownsville Hanna. What makes their record even more impressive
is that it has come against mostly 6A and 5A competition. Victories have been
recorded against several other Brownsville schools such as Veterans Memorial,
Rivera, Porter, and Pace, as well as some other large Valley schools, including
Weslaco, Mission, and Rio Grande City. First year Head Coach, Sam Lucio has
taken a team with only three returning lettermen and turned them into another
Saint Joseph Academy powerhouse.
Swim Team Preparing for Regionals
The Varsity Boys and Girls Swim teams are preparing for their Regional Meet ,
which will be January 28th in San Antonio at the Josh Davis Natatorium at
Blossom Athletic Complex. Swimmers only have two meets left to get their
qualifying times down. Outstanding performances turned in so far this season
have come from the Boys 400m Relay team of Adrian Fierro, Luis Santiago
Davila, Markus Villanueva and Mario Oliva Sanchez. Fierro has also turned in
some top individual performances in the 50 and 100 freestyle and Luis
Santiago Davila in the 200 IM and the 100 Fly. Girls relay team members
Roxana de la Garza, Tatiana Wolfe, Maria Lawler, Paulina Martinez, and Paulina
Varela have also been performing at high levels and look to possibly qualify
one or more of our relays to the State meet. The top individual girls’
performance so far this season belongs to Miren Josune Aponte in the 100
Backstroke.
Daniel Matar and Abraham Caram
Selected to the Academic All-State
FootballTeam
Individual post season accolades were received by several Saint Joseph
Academy football players including Daniel Matar and Abraham Caram. Both
of whom were selected to the TAPPS 5A Academic All-State Team by virtue
of their performances on the field and in the classroom. Another award of
note was The Brownsville Herald’s choice for the All-Metro New Comer of
the Year, SJA quarterback Kai Money. Congratulations to all football players
receiving post season awards.
TAPPS Academic All-State
Daniel Matar, AbrahamCaram
TAPPS 5A Honorable Mention All-State
Mario Garcia, Bernardo de la Garza, Joey Navarro
1st Team TAPPS 2-5A All-District
Mario Garcia, Bernardo de la Garza,
Joey Navarro
2nd Team TAPPS 2-5A All-District
Jose Pablo Salas, Abraham Caram, Jorge de la Garza (offense)
Daniel Matar (both offense and defense)
All-Metro New Comer of the Year
Kai Money
2nd Team All-Metro
Bernardo de la Garza
Honorable Mention TAPPS 2-5A
Javier Gonzalez, Cole Conner, Miles Fowkes, Jorge de la Garza (defense)