SAN ANTONIO – The Knight Smokers barbecue teams at Holy Cross of San Antonio have won several competitions and are now headed to the national tournament in Kansas City less than a year after their founding.
Recently, the junior high cookers won first place at the state level, and the high school cookers placed 10th out of 80 overall teams.
“So [the categories] are supposed to be chicken lollipops, ribeye, chili, grilled cheese and ribs,” coach Andrew Flores explained. “And for nationals, it’s six, which is brisket flat.”
Flores said the team was started in August and has had limited practice time while students balance academics and other extracurricular activities. However, he said their skills have grown at a highly rapid pace.
"I cannot express how proud I am," Flores said. “Yeah, they’ve gotten their butts chewed out by me, but it’s no different than in the classroom. It’s a lot of love. It’s like my extended family.”
The two teams consist of five students working around the clock on their specialties while assisting each other with cutting, cleaning, and seasoning food as needed.
“Be patient,” Holy Cross senior J.R. Sales said when discussing the skills he’s applied from BBQ to the rest of his life. “Be patient. Better things happen whenever you stay calm and be patient.”
Students like Aubrey Ademas say that Holy Cross is a smaller school, which helps teammates form tighter bonds as a group. Another student, Emma Lopez, said repetition is what makes the food so tasty.
"We’re kind of just perfecting it over and over," Lopez said. “We’ve tried a lot of different things with it. So, I guess this just works best for us.”
On Saturday, the team spent the entire day practicing their skills and catering the flavors toward Kansas City, where the national competition will be held.
“When I turn in, the first thing that those judges are looking at is how it looks. And if it’s bad, that’s 30 points off,” eighth-grade student Ernesto Flores said.
The teams will head off on Monday, June 2, to compete at nationals in Kansas City. We’ll keep you updated on their rankings in the coming week.
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