Bill Hilbig Express-News Staff Writer
Publication: San Antonio Express-News
Date: November 27, 1990
Page: 5C
To paraphrase former Texas Longhorn coach Darrell Royal, the Marshall Rams plan to “dance with who brung ’em” when they entertain Pharr-San Juan-Alamo in a big 5A regional playoff game Saturday.
That means the three main high-steppers for the Rams running backs Anthony Holmes, Nick Monreal and V.J. Villarreal will share the spotlight. Then again, that is what the Marshall threesome has been doing all season. “We’ve got to do what we have done all year, and that is to run the football,” Rams coach David Visentine said. “We will utilize all three of our running backs (against P-SJ-A.)”
The potent Marshall rushing attack has totaled over 3,300 yards this season. In the last three games, the Rams have rushed for 898 yards in defeating Taft (28-7), Jefferson (44-0) and MacArthur (20-19).
“We have been pleasantly surprised in that we have shown improvement each week throughout the season,” Visentine said. “We didn’t start off real good, but we feel we have made real good improvement each week, especially in the last three weeks.”
Marshall began the season by dropping a 21-7 decision to MacArthur. Since then, the Rams have won nine of 11 games and will bring a 9-3 record into their showdown against the Bears. “We hope we are peaking at the right time,” Visentine said. “Of course, this is the time of the year that you hope you play up to your opponents’ level.”
P-SJ-A is 11-1 with a three-point loss (20-17) to District 31-5A champion Mission as the only blemish on the Bears’ record.
The main guns in P-SJ-A’s Wing- T offense have been quarterback Hector Ayala and receiver Tony Zuniga. Ayala passed for over 1,800 yards during the regular season while Zuniga picked up 819 yards on 53 receptions. “They are 11-1 and have another good football team,” Visentine said. “They have a quarterback who has thrown for over 1,000 yards and ran for another 400 to 500 yards. He is very versatile. And they have that one wide-out who is by far their leading receiver.”
Defensively, the Bears yielded an average of 177 yards and 7.9 points a game during the regular season. But they have been a little more porous in their two playoff games, defeating Harlingen 34-27 and Corpus Christi Carroll 28-21. “Defensively, they are very stingy,” Visentine said. “They use an eight-man front and have good size. They have nine seniors and two juniors starting on defense. So you would have to say that they are very experienced.”
The game is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Northside Stadium.
