Capital One Bank Dallas Coach of the Week: Aaron De La Torre

Aaron De La Torre knew all about the football downturn at Irving High before accepting the head coaching position two years ago.

De La Torre, a 1993 Irving graduate, was aware that the coaching community had put a "can't win'' stamp on the Tigers based on demographics. The school is sandwiched between city rivals Nimitz to the south and MacArthur to the north with little room for growth.

Irving had managed only one win per season in three years prior to his arrival.

Two years later, the coach is proving skeptics wrong.

On Friday night, the hard work of De La Torre and his staff was rewarded with a 49-25 playoff-clinching victory over rival MacArthur, a school Irving had not beaten since 2008.

For the win that ended a five-year playoff drought, De La Torre was selected as the Capital One Bank Dallas Coach of the Week.

"Irving is a great community and I'm so glad to be a small part of it,'' De La Torre said. "Our coaching staff accepted the challenge two years ago. We're very happy to be back in the playoffs.''

If Irving (6-4, 4-3 in District 6-5A) had lost to MacArthur, then Nimitz would have taken Irving's playoff spot and the Tigers' season would have been over.

"Our philosophy going into this game boiled down to two things. We wanted to be able to run the ball and stop their run,'' De La Torre said.

His players received the message. Irving rushed for 419 yards, averaging 8.2 yards on 51 attempts. MacArthur's running game was limited to 176 yards.

Irving senior running back Antonio Franklin was never better, rushing for five touchdowns and 291 yards.

Quarterback Christian Garcia kept MacArthur off balance with his ball faking and added 127 rushing yards and two scores.

MacArthur (3-7, 2-5) closed to within 26-19 with a touchdown to start the second half. But this was Irving's night. The Tigers scored three touchdowns and a field goal on their next four possessions to put the game away.

The Tigers' record in two seasons under De La Torre improved to 9-11.

Amid post-game celebrations, De La Torre presented the game ball to his predecessor, Jim Bennett. De La Torre was one of many players that Bennett coached in 28 years at the school.

Irving will have a home field advantage in its Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff with Coppell (8-1). The game is set for 7:30 Friday at Irving Schools Stadium.

Following graduation from Irving where he played on the defensive line, De La Torre headed to East Texas to play college football at Stephen F. Austin.

He went on to play a season with the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe and spent time with the Steelers and Cowboys of the NFL.

De La Torre returned to SFA in 2006 for a three-year stint, this time as an assistant coach. He was an assistant at Ryan (Denton) for three years before coming back to Irving.

It was a weekend to remember for the De La Torre family. A day after the Tigers big win, Aaron and wife Lori's oldest son Alex, a 6-1, 233-pound sophomore fullback, caught the game-winning touchdown pass in the Texas Longhorns' 47-40 overtime victory over Big 12 opponent West Virginia.

The couple's other two children are Adyson (13) and Kolt (8).