The Gazette-Enterprise

GERONIMO — A record fell Friday night as running back Jacob Garcia became the leading career rusher in Navarro football history.

Garcia surpassed the record of 3,700 yards held by Ricky Barboza, who starred for the Panthers from 1996-99.

Garcia should be properly honored for his achievement. But this is also an appropriate time to remember the player who held the record for 10 years.

Barboza, a tailback, started his varsity career as a freshman in 1996. There was no plan to use him on varsity that year, according to Barboza, until a senior running back was lost and Barboza’s 500 yards in his first two junior varsity games caused the Panthers’ coaches to reconsider.

Barboza would be the lone bright spot in an epically horrible season. En route to an 0-9 mark, Navarro would only score seven touchdowns. Barboza would have three of them and manage to run for 418 yards in a run-and-shoot offense.

The next year was little better for the Panthers. They would again fail to win a single game, extending their losing streak to 23 games. Still, Barboza continued to improve as he ran for 1,008 yards and eight touchdowns.

“We were so young and inexperienced,” Barboza said of those two years. “We were really a JV team playing against varsity.”

That would change in 1998. Under new head coach Lin Havron, the Panthers went 10-2 for the most dramatic single season turn around in Texas high school football history.

Barboza was a major part of that change. He led the team with 1,243 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns. His biggest highlight came in a thrilling 36-33 win over Nixon-Smiley when he rushed for 312 yards. That mark remains a school record.

Havron, now the head coach at Kenedy, said Barboza was “special.”

“He did not have the luxury of playing on a winning team except for one year,” Havron said. “Pound for pound, he is one of the best backs I’ve coached in my career.”

An ankle injury in the last game of the 1998 regular season slowed Barboza down in the playoffs. It continued to nag him throughout his senior year, limiting him to 985 yards. Combined with other injuries, that resulted in a disappointing 3-7 finish for the 1999 Panthers.

How do Barboza and Garcia compare? They are two backs with contrasting styles, according to two who are quite familiar with both of them.

The first is Havron, who has coached against Garcia three times, including this past Friday.

“Both backs are very good but very different,” Havron said. “Ricky had great vision and great breakaway speed. He was very patient while he waited for holes to open up or someone to get a block.

“Jacob is a power runner. He runs down hill and has a great lean and leg drive that allow him to make yards after contact. It usually takes a couple of defenders to bring him down.”

Michael Shehane played quarterback in the same backfield as Barboza for three years and has been a Navarro assistant throughout Garcia’s career. He agrees with Havron and points to the different offenses in which the two played. The Panthers played a pro style offense in Barboza’s last two years while Garcia has spent three years in the run-oriented Slot-T.

“They were both perfect for the offenses they were in,” Shehane said. “Ricky could read the zones and make cutbacks and shift easily because of his speed and quickness. Jacob has quick feet but he can run people over and gives the offense a good inside rushing attack.

“Regardless of the offense, though, either would have been successful.”

Barboza, who graduated from Texas State and now works in sales in San Marcos, said he has not seen much of Garcia, but congratulates him on the achievement.

“Records are made to be broken,” he said. “I’m happy mine stood as long as it did.”

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