Mercedes football is embracing the motto "Work in the Dark" for the 2026 season as a motivational tactic for the players who will be asked to do more this year.

The Tigers return seven players on offense and six on defense from last year's squad that finished 11-1 overall and made an area round appearance, so the team will see several new faces at key positions in 2026, but with the same expectation of lifting the program towards success in the regular season and in the playoffs.

"Our expectations are these guys know, even though they're young, they grew up really quick," Mercedes head football coach Roger Adame said. "We let them have playing time experience. They may have not started, but they played a lot last year. Our expectation is the same thing from the start, go out there and compete. Be disciplined and be warriors out there on the field."

"As soon as we play as a team, ball as brothers,and know that we just have each other's back and put our trust in one another, we'll be able to ball and make that second round," junior running back and linebacker Noah Buenrostro added. "it's just being together, that bond, day in, day out workouts, spring ball and summer all of it. Just working together and trusting one another and just balling."

Mercedes kicks off the regular season on the road to take on PSJA on August 27th. The Tigers host Donna on October 2nd to open district play, and they it finish up as the away team against Brownsville Porter on November 5th.