Wrestlers across the Valley are aiming at punching their tickets to state today the UIL Region IV-5A tournament in Austin.

PSJA Memorial’s Abel Alvardo (21-1) will face Uvalde High’s Arlin Padilla (25-9) in the 106-pound weight class semifinal today. In the other semifinal Edcouch-Elsa’s Derick Arellano (26-5) and Sharyland High’s Alberto Mendoza (39-8) will match up in the other semifinal for a shot at the regionals’ top spot in that class.

Edcouch-Elsa’s Mario Treviño’s improved his record to 33-5 in the 113-pound division. He faces Aiden Burke (33-8). Also in that division, PSJA Memorial’s Diego Aguilera defeated his first opponent in a 9-4 decision. His second-round opponent, Sebastian Pacheco, went on to defeat Aguilera.

PSJA Memorial’s Alberto Elizondo (34-6) reached the semifinal round in the 120-pound division.

Sharyland Pioneer’s Angel Avila (42-5) advanced two rounds into the 126-pound division. He will face Ethan Adock (26-7) in the semifinal match to reach the finals today. In the other semifinal match up Vanguard Academy’s Rembrandt Noel Torres (31-7) will face Dripping Springs’ Micha Ribera (28-9) for a shot at championship.

Rio Grande City’s Rene Treviño (16-2) is knocking on the finals door after taking down his opponents from Austin and Corpus Christi. He will face Cedar Park’s Gage Foulds (26-9) in the semifinals today. Edcouch Elsa’s Adrian Martinez (33-8) and Sharyland Pioneer’s Kenneth Briere (32-21) survived day one and are two rounds away from reaching the match for third and fourth.

Sharyland Pioneer’s Daniel Huerta (40-10) rolled past his opponents from San Antonio and Victoria and is looking to advance to state in the 145-pound division. Also, in the division Sharyland High’s Moses Rodriguez (33-16) will face off with Valley View’s Eivar Flores (28-13). Rodriguez defeated Edcouch-Elsa’s Kevin Trujillo (25-21,) ending his run at regionals.

In the 152-pound division Grulla’s Alberto Montalvo extend his record to 18-2 on his way to his semifinal match up with Dripping Spring’s Chase Warden (31-0). Also in the division were Mission Veterans’ Luis Ramirez, Edcouch-Elsa’s Luis Salazar, Roma’s Eliberto Muñnoz ended their seasons after taking two losses in day one of regionals competition.

Three Valley wrestlers survived day one at regionals in the 170-pound division. Sharyland High’s Santino Pascual (24-7) reached the semifinals. In the other semifinal match Edcouch-Elsa’s Joel Garza. If each are successful, Pascual and Garza will meet once more since Garza defeated Pascual for the district championship in Elsa. Also surviving Day 1 is Donna High’s Marc Espinoza (18-12). Espinosa and Rio Grande City’s Gregorio Vela (24-16) met in the loser’s bracket and Espinosa advanced.

Edcouch-Elsa’s Ross Uresti reached the semifinals in the 182-pound division. Grulla’s Wayne Austin surived and will need to win two matches today to reach the third-place match. PSJA Memorial’s Salyers Garcia and Sharyland Pioneer’s Andrew Torres did not make it to Day 2 of regional competition.

In the 195-pound division, Johnathan Rios (19-5) reached the semifinals match. Roel Resendez survived and will continue to battle for a chance to reach the third place match. Sharyland Pioneer’s Ethan Garza reached the semifinals.

Sharyland Pioneer’s Orlando Camacho and Edcouch-Elsa’s Bobby Gonzalez also reached the semifinals and with match up today for a chance to move on to state with a win today and clash for first in the 285-pound heavyweight championship at regionals.

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McALLEN — After three stellar years at the varsity level, McAllen Rowe’s Jonas Ortiz has taken the next step in his playing career.

On Monday afternoon, the senior quarterback made official his commitment to the Texas A&M-Kingsville football team, signing a national letter of intent inside the McAllen Rowe High School gymnasium surrounded by family, friends, teammates and supporters.

“It means a lot. It’s a great opportunity that I’m in. It’s a blessed situation and I’m more than happy to be going to Texas A&M-Kingsville and taking my academic and athletic talents,” Ortiz said. “Definitely gotta thank God first. You know, my parents, they do everything, I can’t do anything without them. I know my friends and family have helped me through the journey, it’s been a grind, but I can’t thank everyone enough who’s helped me through it.”

It was a childhood dream of Ortiz’s to play college ball, and now he’ll do it at the same place his father, Jimmy Ortiz, did.

“The recruitment process and visits, everything was made smoothly by the coaching staff and Coach (Michael) Salinas, and going to the school made me feel like I was at home, so that was a big reason why I chose Texas A&M-Kingsville over others,” he said.

McAllen Rowe senior quarterback Jonas Ortiz signed a national letter of intent to continue his academic and athletic career at Texas A&M-Kingsville Monday in the Rowe High School Gymnasium. By Bryan Ramos

The McAllen Rowe signal caller threw for 2,201 yards, ran for 587 yards and accounted for 28 total touchdowns, leading his Warriors to a first-round playoff upset of Laredo Alexander during his final year.

“My favorite memories are definitely just my friends, having long practices, hard hours — being with those guys made every minute, every second worth it. Just going out there practicing with my brothers, I wouldn’t take anything back,” Ortiz said.

The Javelinas signed Ortiz as an athlete, meaning he has the potential to lineup wherever needed, even behind center if called upon. It’s nothing new, however, for Ortiz, who has moved all around the field for the Warriors his sophomore season before taking over at quarterback for his junior and senior years.

“I’m hoping to bring a lot, you know. There’s high expectations,” he said. “I’m going to be more than just one position. I’m going in as an athlete that can help anywhere on the field anywhere Coach puts me. That’s where I’m willing to play.”

Ortiz joins five more RGV products as part of TAMUK’s 2020 recruiting class.

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DONNA — Everything starts with the letter ‘D’ over at Donna High.

It’s been five years since the Redskins last qualified for the postseason. But now, Donna High is 7-3 in District 32-5A action and on the verge of ending its playoff drought. And it’s all because of its defense.

“You have to put all your effort into it. Every time we play, we give it our all and defense is what’s helping us win games,” Donna High senior Brandon Chavez said. “We just try to go out there like underdogs, like we’re down already. We just want to try to come out and hit teams in the mouth.”

Fourth-year head coach Manuel Epperson and the Donna boys basketball team is in the midst of a 20-win season, and while they’re hardly the biggest team around, their intensity and defensive pressure often puts opponents in a stranglehold.

“We’re small, we’re quick, so now we’re applying a lot of pressure and now it’s forcing teams to turn the ball over or to feel uncomfortable, teams aren’t used to that,” Epperson said.

Through 10 district games, Donna is allowing just 46.2 points per outing. As a team, Donna averages nearly 14 steals per led by Eddy Epperson, coach Epperson’s son, who often guards the opposing teams top scorer.

“I watch a lot of film, so I know what they’re better at and what they’re weaknesses are and I just try to force them into their weaknesses,” said the younger Epperson, who comes away with 4.2 steals per game. “Sometimes I get the steal, but it’s our whole team working to come away with that steal.”

At Donna’s 7 a.m. practices, the intensity matches that of Tuesday and Friday nights.

“We go hard on each other and it benefits us because we’re working hard and making each other better every day,” Eddy Epperson said.

And because their defense translates into wins, Donna’s confidence as a team is high. A wire-to-wire overtime loss to Brownsville Veterans, the No. 23-ranked team in the Class 5A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches most recent poll, had Donna reevaluating its potential.

One week after losing 45-42 to Veterans, Donna knocked off Brownsville Pace 61-42 on the road, handing the Vikings their first defeat in 32-5A action.

“The Brownsville Veterans game, going into overtime, made these guys believe. Honestly, I don’t think they believed in themselves, but once they saw they can play with Brownsville Veterans, I told, Coach, ‘The sky is the limit,’” coach Epperson said. “We turned around and beat Edcouch-Elsa here, then we go to Pace and we beat them good. That was the turning point to me, that Vets game, even though we lost it in overtime, it was a turning point of our season to show these kids to believe in themselves.”

“I learned that we can hang with them,” senior guard Trey Rodriguez said. “At the beginning of the year, we thought we weren’t going to be capable of hanging with them (Veterans, Pace). We looked at them as ‘Ls’ on our schedule, but once we started playing, we know we can play with them, so we just have that confidence and we’re looking forward to playing them (Veterans) the last game of the season.”

While Rodriguez and Epperson are a nuisance at the guard spots for Donna, Chavez (14.2 points, 7.8 rebounds per game) and post Avery Bowen (2 steals per game) hold down the paint. They make offenses earn every bucket inside.

With four district games remaining, it’ll continue to be all about effort and locking up a spot in the postseason.

“We’re just trying to go out there, play our hardest, that playoff spot is what we’ve been working for all summer, all year long,” Chavez said.

A win tonight for Donna (20-11, 7-3 in 32-5A) against Mercedes (5-5 in 32-5A) clinches a playoff spot for the Redskins.

“Tomorrow, on our goal sheet, on the very bottom, it says ‘Win the game, clinch a playoff spot,” coach Epperson said.

Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. at Donna High School.

“I’m here to win. I want to win and winning starts with defense, and that’s what I take pride in the most,” Eddy Epperson said.

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McALLEN — Eight teams have been battling on the soccer field at the first McAllen High Girls Soccer Tournament.

The three-day tournament showcasing fierce competition continues today at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Participating teams are Edinburg High, Edinburg Vela, Harlingen High, McAllen High, McAllen High JV, Los Fresnos, Los Fresnos JV and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.

“There are some great teams here and it’s exciting to see,” McAllen High head coach Pat Arney said.

The McAllen High Bulldogs wrapped up Day 2 of competition Friday by defeating Harlingen High.

McAllen High’s Westyn Henderson, Sophia Soto and Bailey Houston each scored a goal to lift the Bulldogs to a 3-0 win over the Cardinals.

“Harlingen has a good team and they were working hard, moving the ball and it was tough,” Arney said. “We had some chances and Harlingen did a good job of stopping us and making us work hard.”

In other Friday action, Sharyland Pioneer defeated Edinburg High 2-1, Los Fresnos beat McHi JV 2-0 and Juarez-Lincoln got past Edinburg Vela 5-1.

On Thursday, the Bulldogs knocked off Sharyland Pioneer 2-0, Juarez-Lincoln took down McHi JV 7-0, Edinburg Vela edged Los Fresnos 2-1 with penalty kicks and Harlingen sank Edinburg Vela 2-0.

“We tried to get two of the top teams from each district from 29, 30, 31, 32 and tried to replicate the playoffs system,” Arney said. “But unfortunately the two Lerado teams backed out on us and we had to put in our JV teams.”

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By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

The Harlingen South girls soccer team returns five starters from last season’s 23-4 Region IV-6A finalist squad.

“The Lady Hawks’ returning starters in 2020 are Sarah Garza, Caroline Grannum, Sandra Lopez, Olivia Olivarez and Korynne Reininger for coach Omar Pedroza, now entering his 24th season as the team’s coach.

“We’ll find out a lot about our team (as we open the season) at the Edinburg CISD Tournament this week,” Pedroza said. “We have talented players. We just lack (varsity starting) experience. We’ll have five or six new starters in the lineup.”

The Edinburg CISD Tournament opens today and runs through Saturday. The Lady Hawks begin tournament play today against PSJA High.

Pedroza enters the new season with 495 career coaching wins. McAllen High coach Patn Arney, who has also coached girls socceer in the Rio Grande Valley — all at McHi — for 24 years, acheived his 500th career coaching victory last weekend at a tournament kn McAllen.

Pedroza could reach win No. 500 at the Edinburg CISD Tournament this weekend.

“I’m at 495 (wins) right now, and that’s something,” Pedroza said. “I never thought I would reach this point.”

TASCO RECOGNITITION

The Texas Association of Soccer Coaches Organization (TASCO) has listed some Valley teams High in its preseason regional rankings.

The Class 6A boys Top 10 for Region IV is: 1. San Antonio Lee, 2. San Antonio Reagan, 3. Brownsville Rivera, 4. Austin Westlake, 5. Austin Lake Travis, 6. Brownsville Hanna, 7. San Antonio Johnson, 8. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, 9. Schertz Clemens, 10. Harlingen South.

The 6A girls Top 10 for Region IV is: 1. Austin Lake Travis, 2. Austin Westlake, 3. San Antonio Reagan, 4. Northside Clark, 5. San Antonio Johnson, 6. San Antonio Lee, 7. Northside Brandeis, 8. Comal Smithson Valley, 9. Comal Canyon, 10. Harlingen South.

In 5A Region IV boys from the Valley, Valley View is ranked No. 1 and Brownsville Veterans Memorial is No. 2. Brownsville Porter is No. 3, Brownsville Lopez is No. 4 and Sharyland High is No. 5.

Only Brownsville Veterans from the Valley at No. 10 is listed in TASCO’s 5A girls Region IV rankings.

In the 4A boys Region IV rankings from the Valley, Progreso is No. 1 and Hidalgo is No. 8. There are no Valley girls teams ranked in the 4A Region IV Top 10 this year.

GOOD NEWS

The good news for the Valley is the Region IV-6A Tournament returns to Brownsville Sports Park for the second straight season April 10-11.

It was only last season when the Harlingen South girls had their best showing in 15 years by defeating Austin Westlake 2-1 in overtime in the regional semifinals before falling 3-0 to Austin Lake Travis in the regional final with a trip to state on the line.

Also this April, the Region IV-5A Tournament returns to Corpus Christi and the Region IV-4A Tournament is back in McAllen.

La Joya High wrestler Michael De La Cruz woke up and reached for his phone to review any messages he may had missed, and to scan his social networks.

To his surprise, one very important message from his father, Abraham De La Cruz, came in alerting him to check out Texaswrestling.com.

Michael De La Cruz, a sophomore, opened the link and couldn’t believe what he found on the other end of the message.

The link was to a story naming him the Mortgage X-Change Wrestler of the Week on Texaswresling.com during the week of Dec. 31.

“It was a surprise and they just put it out there,” De La Cruz said. “It was pretty cool.”

He said he could recall wanting to be recognized by the website when he started wrestling and researching the competition.

According to the website, De La Cruz was recognized for riding a 27-0 record on the season, with 17 wins by fall in the 6A 152-pound weight class.

De La Cruz was the tournament champion at the McAllen Holiday Havoc, Rattler Invitational, Twin City Varsity Invitational and La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Invitational.

He also finished first in the District 15-6A District Duals, McAllen Season-opener Quad, La Joya Tri-Meet and Edinburg Vela Dual.

Last year, De La Cruz was a regional qualifier after placing fourth at the district championship.

This year, De La Cruz is aiming at finishing first in district and making a run to state.

De La Cruz is now 31-2 after traveling to Houston where he locked horns with the best in the state. He returned from the 18th annual Cy-Fair Invitational held in Cypress with his first two losses after competing against 40 to 50 wrestlers in his division at the tournament that drew 180 teams.

De La Cruz wrestles year around and has been wrestling nearly two years non-stop since beginning the sport when he was in the eighth grade.

Aside from his school, he participates with the Lightning Wrestling Club in Pharr and in the summer was on the Team Texas, part of USA Wrestling out of Dallas, where he competed in the national free style championship held in Fargo, North Dakota.

“All my accomplishments are because of my hard work that I have put in,” De La Cruz said. “There are times I’m putting in six hours a day and I’m extremely dedicated to wrestling.”

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Carlos Doria always had the desire to wrestle for La Joya Juarez-Lincoln growing up.

It was the only sport on his radar after older kids from his neighborhood who wrestled for the Huskies introduced him to the sport.

Watching the Huskies win and qualifying for state drew Doria closer to the sport.

“They inspired me to wrestle and I always wanted to do better than them,” Doria said.

Any time Doria had a chance to tussle with the guys, he jumped right into learn wrestling moves, he said.

But at the same time there were people who didn’t believe he could be a good wrestler because he was told he was too small, too weak and the negativity fired him up.

Today, Doria is on the team he envisioned himself on, as captain of the team and currently riding an 8-0 mark in the 126-pound weight class.

“Right now, there is not really any competition until I get to the state level,” Doria said. “I think I’m ready to compete against more experienced wrestlers.”

Doria won the first two tournaments he’s competed in this year. At the Edinburg North tournament, he was named the most valuable wrestler of the competition.

He has been sidelined the last two weeks due to a hand injury but expects to be back on the mat after the holiday break.

Last year, Doria got past regionals and punched his ticket to the state tournament.

“Seeing the competition at state really opened my eyes and has given me the urge to step up to their level to compete against them,” Doria said. “I’m doing great right now and I am undefeated. I have placed first in two tournaments and I’m ready for whatever.”

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BY RAUL GARCIA

STAFF WRITER

LA JOYA — La Joya High’s Michael De La Cruz continued his perfect season Thursday, improving to 27-0 at the La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Invitational.

“It was fun like always,” De La Cruz said. “It’s good competition and my last match was a good win over our sister school (La Joya Juarez-Lincoln).”

De La Cruz extended his winning streak in the 152-pound weight class with a win over La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Abelardo Gloria (10-5) with a fall time of 2:40 in the championship.

Last year, De La Cruz was a regional qualifier after placing fourth at the district championship.

This year, De La Cruz is aiming at finishing first in district and making a run to state.

De La Cruz’s teammate, Rodolfo Zamarripa (18-6), also finished in first place in the 220-pound weight class to help lift the Coyotes to a fifth-place team finish.

Edcouch-Elsa won the team portion of the tournament with 200 points. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln followed in second with 181 points. Los Fresnos finished third with 145 points. PSJA High placed fourth with 97 points and La Joya came in fifth with 91 points.

“Overall, it was a tough tournament and Edcouch-Elsa took it,” La Joya head coach Rudy Cavazos said. “He’s (La Joya head coach Sam Mangum) building that program up and if you have the kids, they will slowly start improving throughout the season.”

Three other wrestlers completed the tournament undefeated in their weight class.

Edcouch-Elsa’s Felipe Neves ended the day 18-0. PSJA High’s Jesus Ceja stretched his winning streak to 3-0 and Mission High’s Dante Lopez is now 15-0.

“Dante is a stud,” Cavazos said. “He has improved a lot from last year. And he’s getting better because of his athleticism, he’s been able to escape and take his opponents out.”

Lopez is ranked 5th in the Texas 285-pound heavyweight class in 6A according to wrestlingtexas.com.

Neves is ranked ninth in the 160-pound weight class in Class 5A.

“It was a good way to measure our kids and to see where they are,” Cavazos said. “Our sport is one of the toughest sports because wrestlers have to deal with diets.”

In the girls division, PSJA High won the team portion of the tournament with 135 points. San Benito placed second with 126 points. La Joya Juarez-Lincoln came in third with 92 points. La Joya High scored 69 points for fourth and La Joya Palmview was fifth with 54 points.

The Bears are the defending district champions and four of their girls reached the state tournament last year.

The Bears placed first in three different weight classes with Nayeli Hernandez defeating Baby Lopez in the 110-pound weight class. Priscilla Luevano beat April Aguilar in the 138-pound weight class and Nancy Saldaña finished first in the 148 division.

“They looked really comfortable on the mat and looked good taking their shots,” PSJA High head coach Joseph Villanueva said.

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ROY HESS | Staff Writer

Odalys Gonzalez and Alexandra Parchmont were impact players for their respective volleyball teams during the 2019 season.

That’s the reason they have earned top honors on The Brownsville Herald’s 2019 All-Metro Volleyball Team.

Gonzalez, a Hanna senior, is the All-Metro defensive player of the year, and Parchmont, a Brownsville Veterans Memorial senior, is the All-Metro libero of the year.

The All-Metro area includes Brownsville, Los Fresnos and Port Isabel.

Both players were instrumental in getting their teams to the playoffs — Hanna as the fourth-place qualifier from District 32-6A and Brownsville Veterans as the co-champion from District 32-5A.

Hanna coach Ansgar Hagemann said having Gonzalez, a 5-foot-11 middle blocker, on the varsity for three years has been a pleasure. He said she was an all-around player who came through offensively as well as defensively.

“Odalys is a force on the volleyball court,” Hagemann said. “She decided games through her 667 kills this season, and when needed, stepped it up as a setter and as a back-row hitter. It is safe to say she played every position there is except libero.

“Above all, she has a very positive attitude towards her teammates and coaches, which made it fun to have her on the squad,” he added.

Besides her 667 kills during the past season, Gonzalez finished with 128 blocks, 421 digs, 37 assists and 52 aces in 45 matches played.

Gonzalez saw one of her main roles on the team as fitting in with the teammates she had on the squad during her three seasons on the varsity.

“I’ve played with different people on the team, and it’s meant having to blend together with every one of them for the years that I’ve played because every team is different,” Gonzalez said. “You want to have the best team you can when putting a team together.”

Regarding her All-Metro honor, the Hanna standout said, “It feels great. I’ve gotten an award every season, and this year’s award just adds to my accomplishments. I’m glad to be recognized for what I’ve done.”

Gonzalez was the All-Metro newcomer of the year as a sophomore and was the overall All-Metro MVP as a junior.

Meanwhile, Parchmont has been quite a reliable libero for Brownsville Veterans and has contributed as a leader for the team.

“Alex was my coach on the court,” Lady Chargers coach Elizabeth Mares said. “She is very knowledgeable about the game, and she knew what was working and what didn’t work. She was my speaking captain, and when she spoke the girls listened.

“Alex never missed one practice, and she only missed one match during a tournament due to ACT testing,” Mares added. “She is the hardest worker who always was striving to improve in every aspect of the game. The girls would take notice of that and would follow her lead, especially in practices.

“She is that player who gives 110 percent. Her goal was to be one of the best liberos in the Valley, and I think she accomplished that by receiving not only all-district libero, but All-Metro libero, too.”

Parchmont finished her senior season with 851 digs, 724 service receptions,. 40 kills, 34 aces and 219 points scored.

The Lady Chargers went 30-10 on the season and shared the 32-5A title with Edcouch-Elsa with a 13-1 district record.

Parchmont said playing sports for the Lady Chargers has been an adventure she has treasured as part of her high school experience.

“I can say playing sports for the Lady Chargers for four years has been very beneficial and I’ve learned a lot,” Parchmont said. “My coach asked me at the beginning of the season what my goal was, and I said it was to be the libero of the year. Thankfully, I got it, and it’s just a good feeling.

“I’m thankful for everyone who has been there for me these four years,” she added. “The team and coaches have helped me a lot.”

ELSA — It was a full day of pain at the Twin City Invitational wrestling tournament as 20 teams tussled on the mat and went toe-to-toe with their opponents Saturday.

“All pain goes away when victory is with you,” Edcouch-Elsa’s Ross Uresti said.

Heading into the championship matches, Uresti and his Yellow Jackets teammates were represented in five weight classes on their way to a team victory.

Edcouch-Elsa won the team portion of the tournament with 231points. Los Fresnos followed in second with 183 points. Sharyland High finished third with 147 points. La Joya High placed fourth with 118 points and Weslaco High came in fifth with 116 points.

“We planned to protect our home turf and take back the wrestling championship trophy to our wrestling room,” Uresti said. “We always go for the gold.”

Edcouch-Elsa senior Ross Uresti defeats PSJA SouthWest opponent Richard Campos in the 182 weight-class championship match in a fall time of 3: 23 at the Twin City Invitational held at Edcouch-Elsa High in Elsa. By Raul Garcia | The Monitor

The event began at 9 a.m. and lasted until 8 p.m.

Two wrestlers who got it on once more were PSJA Memorial’s Abel Alvarado and Edcouch-Elsa’s Mario Treviño in the 113-pound weight class championship. Alvarado bested Treviño for the second time in two weeks. They met in the Sharyland Rattler tournament championship Dec. 7.

“I’m proud of the way the kids are wrestling,” Edcouch-Elsa head coach Sam Mangum said. “I know it’s a hyped tournament and I don’t want to make an easy tournament for the kids. I want them to work because we have to get them ready for the next level which is districts, regionals and state. I feel a tournament this deep and this weight gave them the feel of how tough the competition is going to be up in Austin and Houston.”

Donna High, Donna North, Edcouch-Elsa, Edinburg North, Grulla, La Joya High, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln, La Joya Palmview, Los Fresnos, McAllen High, Mission High, PSJA Memorial, PSJA North, PSJA Southwest, Rio Grande City, Roma, San Benito, Sharyland High, Valley and Weslaco High participated in the tournament.

Mission High’s heavyweight junior Dante Lopez also dominated his competition at the 285-pound division all the way through the championship, and stretched his undefeated mark to 10-0.

Mission High junior Dante Lopez defeated Edcouch-Elsa Bobby Gonzalez in the 285 weight class championship match at the Twin City Invitational held at Edcouch-Elsa High in Elsa. By Raul Garcia | The Monitor

“The Twin City Invitational is one of those that challenge you,” Lopez said. “You are here all day, you are wrestling all day and you just have to go and compete, especially in these kinds of matches with so many competitors.”

In the girls tournament, the Edinburg North Cougars won the portion of the tournament with 102 points. San Benito came in second with 83 points and Donna High and La Joya High tied for third with 79 points.

Edinburg North senior Eva Cerda seen wrestling her opponent in semifinal match at the Twin City Invitational held at Edcouch-Elsa High in Elsa.

Edinburg North’s Eva Cerda improved to 17-1 on the year with a fall at the 2-minute, 16-second mark over Valley View’s Dafne Aguilar-Martinez (14-3) while North’s Stephanie Garza upped her record to 15-2 with a fall over Donna High’s Emily Fernandez (3-1) in 1:26.

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