Before sunrise, in the small town of Floresville, the Tigers football program assembles at Eschenburg Field — as the team turns the page on its previous 3-7 season.
“You can expect a hardworking team, a very conditioned team, a very bonded team, and a team ready to work and play,” said Floresville senior tight end and linebacker Christian Peralta.
Floresville, of District 15-4A-D1, is under the new leadership of Ilyan Martinez, who spent over a decade with the Natalia football team.
Martinez is on a mission to teach his new group how to approach the game of football with the right mentality. The Tigers are projected to finish last in their division — per Dave Campbell’s Texas Football — and Martinez doesn’t want his players to mind the outside noise.
“We started from the ground up, and that’s how we are going to coach them,” said Martinez. “We’re not going to worry about all of the other things that we can’t control and the kids seem to be excited about that — that’s been the mentality since we got here — just trying to build a culture of toughness here and build some pride here while putting a product on the field that this community can be proud of.”
The Tigers are excited about a fresh start and look to put their new look on full display when they visit Navarro for its season opener on Aug. 30 at 7:30.
“Honestly, I’m grateful,” said Keith De Leon-Tatum, Tigers senior defensive back. “I’m blessed, I’m glad to have new coaches, new teammates out here.”
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