Southern comfort: Huerta shines with football team

Posted: Oct. 26, 2011

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Hugo Huerta

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Hugo Huerta

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Oconomowoc junior Hugo Huerta said the Cowboys, Steelers and 49ers represent the three most popular NFL football teams in his native Mexico. So it comes as a curiosity that his favorite squad happens to be the Indianapolis Colts. His favorite player: Peyton Manning.

"I remember they broadcast four games of the Colts in a row," Huerta said. "It was the 2005 season when they were close to having a perfect season."

A quarterback may be his favorite player, but on the field, Huerta's job is to terrorize the QB and anyone else in his way. The starting inside linebacker took on the daunting task of playing football - not usually the choice of foreign exchange students - when he arrived for a one-year tenure at OHS.

"I've been playing the sport since I was 9 years old, so it's not like I'm a rookie," Huerta said. "I guess a lot of people thought since I was a Mexican, I was a soccer player. Hopefully I showed them something about Mexican football."

He said yes, he plays soccer as well, but the American version of football has its following south of the border. Huerta played fullback, offensive line and linebacker growing up, participating in a club-level environment.

"There's a program called Borregos that meets every week," Huerta said. "Monterrey Tech has high schools all over Mexico, and each of these schools has football, but 95 percent of the teams are club. You're divided by weight (into teams), and we have college football and everything."

It didn't take long for Cooney coach Ryan McMillen to notice Huerta was bringing experience to the table.

"He had a good feel for the game; he just needed to learn our football terminology, and then he was good to go," McMillen said. "We just treated him like any other kid. We gave him reps in practice, and he practiced hard, so we gave him some reps in live scrimmage situations, and he made plays and worked his way into a starting role."

Huerta said his first Friday night game stands out.

"My favorite movie has always been 'Friday Night Nights,' " Huerta said. "When I finally got there, it was like experiencing a dream or something."

Huerta has been staying with the Thelen family, a household that includes sophomore Oconomowoc teammate Koty Thelen, the oldest of four sons for Waukesha West assistant football coach Gregg Thelen.

"We hosted a girl from Germany last year, and the liaison from (the hosting organization) called and said, 'I've got a football player for you,' " Gregg recalled. "I wasn't sure if he would understand what it was going to take. We saw a couple pictures, and he looked like a scrawnier kid. In my 16 years at Oconomowoc, there was maybe one (foreign-exchange) student who played on the football team, and he never saw the field."

But for Huerta, it was different. He started all nine games this season.

"I expected to work hard," he said, adding that the experience wasn't as overwhelming as he anticipated. "It was a big challenge, but I thought it would be like the movies or something."

He said the American football games are perhaps better attended, but not necessarily louder.

"Even though we don't have that many people (at the game in Mexico), it's a culture thing," Huerta said. "We like to make so much noise, and the crowd always goes crazy. I would say Mexican games get louder. The weather is a big change, too. We're used to playing in the morning at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m., and the heat makes it more difficult. The technique is a big difference. Here, it's hard to get injured. In Mexico, we always get injured because they don't have good technique or the kid on the other team did something completely illegal. Here, those things don't happen."

Huerta, the son of a doctor and chemist, hopes to return to the States next year if possible, though he won't be playing sports again in Wisconsin. He wants to pursue a career in accounting.

"Maybe I can see if I can join a college football team," he said. "I want to focus on my career, but I want to play football, too."