Raymondville High School’s boys soccer team concluded their season on Friday hosting ‘Parents’ Night’ against La Feria. The Bearkats - a young squad this season - lost 3-0 but Head Coach Allan Flores is standing behind his team.

“The boys played extremely well this season and I could not be any prouder of them,” Flores said. “Our goalie (Alder Figueroa) is a sophomore this year and has really learned a lot and I feel he is one of District 32-3A‘s best goal keepers.”

Also on this year’s team are Jesus Turrubiates, Jeffrey Santana, Adam Garcia, Juan Torres, Deremy Tijerina, Adulfo Vargas, Omar Barajas, Jose Garcia, Ruben Angulo, Daniel Galvan, Pedro Soria, Raul Huerta, Ernesto Medina, Alberto Gonzalez, Cristian Vargas, David Medina, Jose Rivera, Cirilo Cacique, and managers Arturo Vasquez and Jeremy Withman.

“We have a very young team mostly filled with sophomores and juniors and many of them have not played soccer before,” Flores said. “This group has improved a hundred percent over last year and we are going to be that much better next season with a lot of these boys coming back.”

Flores is also well aware of the efforts his fellow coaches undertake in sharing the same student athletes.

“I support all of our athletic teams and do not believe in the specialization by kids in any high school sport because every youngster should have the ability to compete in all of them,” Flores said. “Raymondville is a terrific place with a lot of talented kids who participate in everything from track and field, to tennis, golf, football, cross country, basketball and everything else. We coaches all support each other and Coach Alex Leal (Athletic Director) supports us all a hundred percent.”

Leal commended the work of Flores and Assistant Roy Ruiz.

“Both of these coaches are excellent workers,” Leal said.

Raymondville, year in and year out, has to go head to head against schools with larger numbers.

“We’re a very small school that has to compete with bigger campuses and when it comes to certain sports like soccer that makes it tougher for the kids to compete because many of their opponents only play soccer,” Leal said. “Our kids here at Raymondville play all sports so they are trying to compete in soccer, baseball, track and what have you. It puts us (a 3A campus) behind the eightball as we’re going up against 4A and 5A’s.”

Which is why Bearkat coaches have learned to share practice time.

“Our athletes go through any particular off-season, which includes weight lifting, and then go to their in-season sport after school,” Leal said. “If they run in track after their offseason workout, for example, we run them for about twenty minutes before sending them to another sport.”

IN ACTION LATER THIS WEEK: BEARKATS

Raymondville High School’s varsity baseball team visits Lyford at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The Lady Bearkat varsity and junior varsity softball teams host La Feria at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday.

AFTER SPRING BREAK: BEARKATS

Raymondville High School’s varsity boys and girls track teams host the ‘Meet of Champions’ Friday and Saturday (March 26-27). Raymondville’s junior varsity boys and girls track teams compete in Rio Hondo on Thursday; March 25. Myra Green Middle School’s boys and girls track teams compete at a meet in La Feria on Saturday; March 27.

Raymondville High School’s varsity baseball team hosts La Feria at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (March 23), and then visits Zapata at 7 p.m. on Saturday (March 27).

The Lady Bearkats varsity and junior varsity softball teams visit Zapata at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday (March 23), and then host Port Isabel at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday (March 26).