Coach comes home to Round Lake football

The hometown boy has come home to do his old team and school proud.

Cristo Garza, who played football at Round Lake in the mid-1990s, is the school's new head coach. He's excited to show everyone what he knows Round Lake can be in football.

"I've been telling the kids that I've been to every playoff game that Round Lake has ever played in. There have been five playoff games here since 1985," said Garza, a 1996 graduate who played on the offensive line and was raised in Round Lake from birth. "I think me having that connection has been pretty neat for the kids.

"I'm trying to get them to understand that what they are a part of used to be something."

Round Lake is coming off a 2-7 season and has had many frustrating campaigns in recent years.

But Garza is optimistic with the vibe around his program.

"There are just great kids here and they give you everything they've got," Garza said. "When you take over a program that is 10-80 (over the last 10 years), you think about how tough the transition might be and honestly, it's been as easy as I could hope for just because of the kids and the fact that their effort has been so great."

Round Lake welcomes back just two starters on the offense, center Brett Herdman and tight end Ross Rehm. But Garza is excited about new junior quarterback Tabieas Young.

"He's a young quarterback but he started every game last year for the sophomore team," Garza said. "He's very athletic. He can really run around. But over the summer, he also really worked on being a quarterback and being able to understand that and we've been able to build around that.

"I think the sky is the limit for him."

A running quarterback, Young will build up the rushing yards alongside running backs Juwan Brownlee and Alex Valladares. Brownlee is quick and slippery while Valladares is more of a power, downhill runner.

Meanwhile, Garza says that wide receiver Alan Espinosa has also been impressive in practice.

Garza, most recently on the coaching staff at Warren, was the offensive coordinator at Lakes for six years before that.

"If you can imagine what Lakes does, we'll look similar in many ways," Garza said. "We'll be a spread option team. We need to get our kids in space and let them use their athleticism."

Defensively, Garza will have the same philosophy. Let his players use their speed.

"We're going to want to be fast and we want to fly to the ball and attack," said Garza, who will look to Valladares and Brendon Matallanes for defensive leadership.

Valladares and Matallanes, both starters last year, will start at linebacker while Brandon Behnke, also a starter last year, returns on the line.

"We have a lot of things to be excited about here. We have great kids and coaches and a referendum just got passed and a lot of new things are being built (on campus)," Garza said. "I've told the kids that I've been to all of Round Lake's playoff games and the next one I go to I want to coach in it and I want them to win it."