The Pace Vikings snapped a three-year playoff drought last November, making the postseason for the first time since 2020.

They were powered to a playoff berth thanks in large part to one of the best rushing attacks in the Valley.

Much of that production was courtesy of the top rusher in the RGV, Adrian Sauceda.

He put up just shy of 2,400 yards on the ground as a senior last fall.

"He's a hard guy to replace," Pace head coach Daniel Pardo simply said. "Adrian was one of those big backs that could take hits and worked hard in the summer."

The Pace offense will have to find a way to succeed without him this season.

However, the Vikings are fortunate to have someone who shares a significant connection with him as part of the group looking to replicate that success in the ground game.

"We have his brother who is gonna be one of the running backs. so he is one and we have two other kids that we are going by committee... They just, they haven't been tested yet, but we'll be good."

The Vikings took the four seed in the district standings last fall.

They started district play with a 2-0 record after back-to-back 20-plus point wins over PSJA Southwest and Brownsville Porter.

However, the team struggled at the end of the season by losing their final three regular season games and losing in the bi-district round to Alice.

They feel now that quarterback Isaac Solis is fully healthy, they can finish the season stronger this time around.

"It definitely is a big motivator when you lose your quarterback early in the second quarter of a big game," Pardo said of Pace wanting to prove they're capable of more than they showed to end last season. "That kid is back and if he was here for the whole season it might've been a little bit different."

"A few injuries happened at the end of the year that kind of set us down," Solis said. "But we still pushed through it I feel like this year if we stay healthy we can make it further."

Pace will open up the season in Week 1 against Hidalgo. The district season starts in Week 7 against Brownsville Porter.