By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
LYFORD — The 2020 football season has begun for some Class 1A through 4A programs across the state of Texas, but the stadiums in the Rio Grande Valley remain empty.
Some teams in the East Valley still have questions remaining regarding start dates and schedules for their seasons, while others have some newfound clarity.
District 16-4A Divisions I and II feature four East Valley squads — La Feria in DI and Port Isabel, Raymondville and Rio Hondo in DII — that are still waiting on official district schedule decisions to be made, even as some of their opponents started practice Monday.
Rio Hondo athletic director and football coach Rocky James said 16-4A DII is meeting Wednesday to finalize the district plan. The coaches want to play the full seven-game district slate, so the goal is having all teams in the Valley return to facilities by Sept. 7 so the season can begin one month later and be completed before the Nov. 7 district certification deadline.
The Bobcats were set to be on hold until Sept. 14, but Rio Hondo ISD superintendent Roger Ellis is going to let the football program start strength and conditioning one week early, since most of the workouts will be done outside. James said the district is waiting to see if Raymondville’s superintendent and school board, which will be meeting Tuesday, allows the Bearkats to begin workouts Sept. 7 instead of the current start date of Sept. 21.
If all teams can’t be back to work by Sept. 7, the 16-4A DII coaches will have to look at some of their backup plans to get a district season played.
“Right now, we’re trying to play every single game,” James said. “We have a bunch of scenarios, but on Wednesday it should be hammered out. One of the scenarios has us playing three games in two weeks. We’d have a game on Wednesday, a game on Monday and then a game on Saturday, and after that all on Friday.”
District 32-6A, featuring six East Valley programs, has a full, seven-game schedule set and a shorter schedule option in its back pocket. The first option has all eight teams starting with an acclimation week Oct. 5 and playing one scrimmage Oct. 15-17. District contests would start Oct. 22 and run through Dec. 5, the district certification deadline for 5A and 6A programs.
The district also has a two-zone plan. The Northwest Zone will have Donna North, Harlingen High, Harlingen South and Weslaco High facing off. Brownsville Hanna, Brownsville Rivera, Los Fresnos and San Benito will play in the Southeast Zone, if a full district slate can’t be played.
Zones have become the best option for several districts in the Valley, including Lyford’s 16-3A Division I. Bulldogs athletic director and football coach Israel Gonzalez said the district decided to follow a similar plan as others, such as 16-5A DI and 16-3A DII, to determine playoff seeding.
“The (No.) 2-seeds will play the (No.) 3-seeds from the opposite zone, and say both 2-seeds win, then they would have to go to a tiebreaker with points for common opponents. But let’s say Zone A 2-seed and 3-seed wins, then they would go in like that as three and four,” Gonzalez said.
The top-ranked teams in each zone get automatic postseason bids and will play each other to determine playoff seeding, with the top spot going to the winner of the contest. The 16-3A DI district slate is set to begin Oct. 16.