The Edinburg Vela football squad sits atop this season’s first installment of the RGV Sports Top 10 Rankings prior to Week 1 games.
The RGV Sports Top 10 is voted on by the RGVSports.com editorial staff throughout the Valley, consisting of the sports departments at the Brownsville Herald, The Monitor and the Valley Morning Star.
The Edinburg Vela SaberCats are coming off another very successful year in which they completed an undefeated regular season, won the District 31-6A championship and advanced to the third round of the state playoffs. They’ll be the team to beat in the RGV early on under veteran quarterback AJ Sotelo and head coach John Campbell.
The SaberCats are followed by a tie for second place between the San Benito Greyhounds, who finished 2018 at 8-5 and second in District 32-6A, and the Weslaco High Panthers, who ended the year at 12-2 and the runners-up to Vela in District 31-6A. Both teams also advanced to the third round of the 6A playoffs.
Coming in at No. 4 are the McAllen Memorial Mustangs, the highest ranked team in District 30-6A to begin the season. Rounding out the top five are the Mission Veterans Patriots — the District 16-5A DI champs — who advanced farther in the postseason than any other Valley team, reaching the fourth round of the 5A playoffs.
Behind Mission Vets in a two-way tie for sixth are another defending district champions in the Brownsville Hanna Eagles, who won District 32-6A, and the Sharyland Pioneer Diamondbacks, the runners up in District 16-5A DII.
They’re followed by another two-way tie at eighth with the Mission High Eagles and Harlingen High Cardinals, who will each be looking to build off of winning seasons that disappointingly ended in first round playoff exits for both.
And finally the Sharyland High Rattlers come in at 10th to complete the RGV Sports Preseason Top 10 Rankings after topping District 16-5A DII in 2018. Among other teams receiving votes in the first RGV Sports Top 10 Poll of the season are the PSJA North Raiders (9), the Weslaco East Wildcats (6), the PSJA High Bears (4), the La Feria Lions (4) and the Mercedes Tigers (3).
RGVSPORTS.COM TOP 10
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com top 10 poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through 1 point for a 10thplace vote. The seven votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, Valley Morning Star, and Brownsville Herald.
Team Points
1. Edinburg Vela (7) 70
T-2. San Benito 49
T-2. Weslaco High 49
4. McAllen Memorial 38
5. Mission Veterans 36
T-6. Brownsville Hanna 26
T-6. Sharyland Pioneer 26
T-8. Mission High 25
T-8. Harlingen High 25
10. Sharyland High 13
Others receiving votes: PSJA North (9); Weslaco East (6); PSJA High (4); La Feria (4); Mercedes (3).