Mexican Football Team Cancels Game Vs. Texas HS, Reasons Left For Debate

But where it starts to get “grey” is to why the Borregos had to cancel the Thursday game.

A sports reporter with the Austin American-Statesman posted a message on Twitter on Wednesday that the team cancelled due to drug cartel extortion.

A blog entry posted that afternoon went into further detail.

Round Rock ISD athletic director Jim Loerwald told the Statesman that Monterrey Prepa Tech claimed a drug cartel was demanding $30,000 in order to let the team cross and come back across the border.

Action 4 News spoke to Monterrey Prepa Tec Athletic Director Sigifredo Treviño via telephone.

He said the reports about threats and extortion are not true and told Action 4 News that the school had to cancel for economic reasons.

But a spokesman for the Monterrey Tec system contradicted what Treviño said in another inteview with the Austin American-Statesman.

Budget Buster

Treviño said that the Borregos are contracted to play a record number of seven high school football games in Texas this fall.

The team played three games already and after Stony Point is scheduled to play teams in Corpus, Austin and San Antonio.

Treviño said that the team travels with 45 students and staff requiring 30 hotel rooms.

He said the Borregos last game against Highland Park in the Dallas was area was a budget-buster because the team had to fly.

To play the game in Round Rock, the students would have had to miss an extra day from school and the team would have spend an extra day traveling on the road and an extra night in a hotel.

Safety Concerns

Treviño said a couple of the Borregos players were recently injured but did not name which ones.

He said safety and security were a factor in the decision to cancel the Stony Point game.

Treviño said the days of taking money-saving, overnight bus trips are gone due to the security situation in Mexico.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s drug war since 2006 and Monterrey has been a recent center of violence.

Treviño said traveling to Texas for football games now requires either flying or traveling by bus an extra day in advance in order to travel by daylight.

Both flying and the extra travel day by bus, he said, come with extra and unanticipated expenses.

Future Games

Treviño said the team’s contracts to play in Texas end this high school football season.

He said the school is evaluating its options for the 2012 high school football season.

Treviño said that team wants to return to Texas in 2012 but might have to consider playing fewer games or games closer to the border.

Another option might be to play games on the weekends to avoid extra travel days.

It’s not clear how canceling the Stony Point game will affect Texas school’s willingness to sign game contracts with Monterrey Prepa Tec.

But Treviño said the students love to play in the United States.

“It’s very important and motivating,” he said. “Many times, they (the players) prefer a season in the United States instead of Mexico.”

Contradictory Interview

Ricardo Garcia, a spokesman for Monterrey Tec, told the Statesman that the school received an anonymous phone call by someone claiming to be with the Zetas drug cartel last week.

The caller allegedly demanded $30,000 for the team to safely cross an international bridge into the United States.

Garcia told the Statesman they did not know if the call was authentic or a prank but point out that the Zetas are very active in Monterrey and the surrounding area.

He told the Statesman that they decided to cancel the game against Stony Point for safety reason.

The Statesmae reported that Monterrey Tec’s college team cancelled its scheduled game against Mary Hardin-Baylor for the same reason last Saturday.

Mary Hardin Baylor coach Pete Fredenburg told the Austin American-Statesman that he received a phone call from Monterrey Tec Coach Roberto Rodriguez explaining the situation.