Football: Crane's Mendoza learned football and more from older brother

CRANE Brothers look out for each other.

And they stick together.

Through everything. Through school, through football practice, through any situation life can throw at a pair of kids a year apart and separated only by that single year.

For the first time this year, Jordan and Justin Mendoza are apart.

Separated by graduation.

Fresh off of his senior year at Crane, Jordan has spent the fall semester at Angelo State University, but he makes it back to Crane as many times as he possibly can, especially on Friday nights.

To watch his little brother thrive.

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Throughout his life, Justin Mendoza has looked up to his older brother.

“Growing up, I didn’t really have a real dad,” Mendoza said. “My motive, my drive, everything comes from Jordan.”

Their mother, Jessica, introduced her oldest son to football in the fourth grade.

And as soon as Jordan fell in love with the game, Justin was ready to put on a pair of pads, too.

“Whatever older brother was doing, younger brother wanted to do, too,” Jessica said.

Through their entire lives, the brothers never left each other’s sides.

Jordan played the French horn. Justin followed suit with the trombone. Track and field, excelling in school — both are members of the national honor society — the Mendozas operated as one.

“No matter what we went through, we always stuck together,” Jordan said.

Even through the tough times.

Back when Jordan was a freshman in high school, Justin an eighth-grader, their mother, had to move to take care of her father, who suffered complications from diabetes.

Rather than move to Bronte and eventually Iraan with their mother, Justin and Jordan decided to stay in Crane.

Luckily, teammate Garrett Wilson and his parents, Karen and Reed, offered to let the Mendoza brothers stay with them.

“For the first time in our lives, we were away from our mother,” Jordan said. “We still had her support, but for the most part, we just stuck together.”

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Two years later, as a sophomore, Justin Mendoza found a home on the football field.

At inside linebacker. A cornerback in junior high, Mendoza moved to outside linebacker to fill a gap as an eighth-grader.

And as a sophomore, he moved to the inside.

“We were short on inside linebackers,” Mendoza said. “I had always been a utility player, but I liked moving to linebacker, because it’s more inside, more physical.”

Few players fit into a position better than Mendoza.

After spending some time as a starter as a sophomore, Mendoza came through with a junior season that earned All-District 4-2A Co-Defensive Player of the Year honors.

But he’s been even better for the Golden Cranes as a senior.

Through 12 games, Mendoza has made 185 tackles — a whopping 15.4 tackles per game — made two sacks, two interceptions, three forced fumbles and seven pass break-ups.

“Away from the play, he’s always there, he’s ripping through blocks to get to the ball,” Crane defensive coordinator Henry Anderson said. “He reads his keys well, and he just gets to the ball.”

Few 185-pound linebackers can boast the speed that Mendoza has.

A member of Crane’s state-caliber 1,600-meter relay team, Mendoza possesses the kind of speed that can make up for a lot of misdirection.

“If there is a false key, his instincts get him to the ball even if there is a false key,” Anderson said. “It’s very hard to get away from him on offense.”

Mendoza forged that speed and strength throughout the offseason.

Like Crane’s workhorse on offense, running back Cody Black, Mendoza came up to the Crane football facilities every morning to work out alone.

Then worked out again with the team that afternoon.

Put all that work into the game, and Mendoza has built himself into a player who no longer really has a true weakness.

Ask his inside linebackers coach.

“No weaknesses that I can think of,” Crane inside linebackers coach Jimmy Whiddon said. “A lot of the guys I get, it’s hard for them to play with their shoulders over, but he always has.”

Maybe Mendoza isn’t the heaviest linebacker in the Class 2A playoff field. But he certainly packs some punch.

“We have those metal facemasks now,” Whiddon said. “And he’s bent a few of them up. When he hits you, it’s a big hit.”

Crane only has to replace one or two facemasks per year.

Unless it’s the one Mendoza is wearing.

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Two days ago, Jordan came home from Angelo State to spend Thanksgiving with his family.

And the first person he had to see was his younger brother.

“Just went into his room, found him taking a nap after practice,” Jordan said. “We talked a lot about Cisco, talked about those boys and the game.”

Mendoza will be a key part of Crane’s defense in a Class 2A Division II regional playoff against defending state runner-up Cisco at 7 tonight in San Angelo.

Good luck getting him to talk about it, though.

“Never says a word hardly at all,” Anderson said. “He’s not a rah-rah guy at. He just takes care of his business and keeps playing. You don’t see many of them that don’t talk.”

Mendoza has never needed to boast.

He has an older brother to take care of the promotion abilities. When Mendoza was inducted into the National Honor Society last year, Jordan introduced him.

To learn about the way Mendoza plays football, it’s always better to ask Jordan.

“There is never an impossible task for him,” Jordan said. “Send a fullback, send a double-team, he’ll make the play. But he won’t say anything about it. I’m the one counting his tackles.”

Brothers look out for each other.

Even from the stands. 

>> CRANE GOLDEN CRANES vs. CISCO LOBOES

Class 2A Division II Regional Playoff

>> When: 7 p.m. Friday.

>> Where: San Angelo Stadium.

>> Records: Crane 11-1; Cisco 12-0.

>> Live updates: www.oavarsity.com.