Los Fresnos improved to 2-1 on the season with a thrilling 36-33 victory over PSJA High on Friday, scoring a touchdown during the final moments of the game for the win. Freshman quarterback Robert Pineda orchestrated the Falcons’ offense, accounting for 340 total yards and two touchdowns to earn him the RGVSports.com Player of the Week award.

The freshman signal caller was pivotal on the Falcons’ final drive, leading Los Fresnos on an 18-play, 89-yard drive for the game-winning score. Pineda carried the ball six times for 40 yards and completed 2-of-5 passes for 22 yards during the game-winning drive, accounting for 62 total yards.

Los Fresnos quarterback Robert Pineda (2) breaks free for a 38-yard touchdown run during a non-district contest against PSJA High on Thursday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr. Pineda earned the RGVSports.com Player of the Week award. (Joel Martinez | The Monitor) Joel Martinez

Pineda finished the night 8-of-11 for 80 yards and one touchdown, a 10-yard strike to Joshua Limon to open the scoring for the Falcons. He added 30 carries for 260 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown scamper during the second.

The Falcons (2-1, 0-0) continue their non-district schedule against La Joya High (0-3, 0-0) on Friday at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in Los Fresnos.

The eight-team District 15-5A DI is the first to kick off league play across the Rio Grande Valley and with it comes a matchup of defending district champions and regional semifinal playoff qualifiers from a season ago.

The No. 1 Edinburg Vela SaberCats (3-0) and McAllen Memorial Mustangs (1-2) are set to open District 15-5A DI play at 7 p.m. Thursday at Richard R. Flores Stadium in Edinburg.

The SaberCats lead the head-to-head series 2-1 with a 40-8 win last season and a 40-21 victory in 2018. The Mustangs defeated Vela 33-22 during the 2019 season.

Edinburg Vela is off to a scorching hot start with 50-or-more points scored in each of its first three games. The SaberCats demolished Weslaco East 54-7 during Week 3.

Meanwhile, McAllen Memorial has dropped its last two, but both of those games came against teams ranked in the top half of the RGVSports.com Class 5A-6A Top 10 poll.

The Mustangs opened the year with a 31-28 win on the road over Brownsville Hanna before falling against Mission Veterans and San Benito during Week 3.

RGVSPORTS.COM 5A-6A TOP 10
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com Class 5A-6A 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 10th-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Edinburg Vela (3) 3-0 38 1
2. Harlingen High (1) 3-0 36 3
3. PSJA North   3-0 34 2
4. San Benito   3-0 28 4
5. Weslaco High 3-0 24 8
6. Donna High   3-0 16 NR
7. Mission Veterans 2-1 15 5
8. McAllen Rowe 2-1  8 NR
9. Brownsville Porter 3-0  6 NR
10. Los Fresnos 2-1  5 NR
Others receiving votes: Brownsville Veterans (1-1); McAllen Memorial (1-2); Rio Grande City (2-1); Sharyland Pioneer (2-1).

RGVSPORTS.COM SUB-5A TOP 4
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com sub-5A top 4 poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through 7 points for a fourth-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Port Isabel (3) 3-0 38 1
2. Lyford (1)   2-1 35 2
3. Hidalgo   3-0 33 3
T-4. Bville St. Joseph 2-1 14 T4
T-4. La Feria   2-1 14 NR

Rio Grande Valley Cross Country Coaches Association Top 10

Boys

	Team	Prv.
1.	Sharyland High	1
2.	McAllen High	2
3.	La Feria	8
4.	Donna North	3
5.	Edinburg North	6
6.	McAllen Memorial	5
7.	Harlingen High	4
8.	Weslaco East	10
9.	McAllen Rowe	7
10.	Brownsville IDEA Frontier	9

Girls

	Team	Prv.
1.	Sharyland High	1
2.	La Feria	2
3.	McAllen High	7
4.	Edinburg Economedes	6
5.	Mission Veterans	5
6.	Brownsville Veterans	N/R
7.	Harlingen South	4
8.	Harlingen High	3
9.	Weslaco East	N/R
10.	Sharyland Pioneer	8

Top 10 Individual Times (5,000-meters)

Boys

	NAME	SCHOOL	TIME	DATE
1.	Meza, Valdemar	Sharyland High	15:38.0	Sept. 3
2.	Granados, Ayden	McAllen Memorial	15:47.5	Sept. 3
3.	Luna, Dominick	Harlingen High	15:58.0	Sept. 3
4.	De Leon, Diego	McAllen Memorial	15:58.7	Sept. 3
5.	Ahlman, Jacksen	McAllen High	16:02.7	Sept. 3
6.	Salinas, Nathan	Sharyland High	16:02.8	Sept. 3
7.	Nava, Aaron	Weslaco East	16:08.2	Sept. 3
8.	Rodriguez, Alexis	Edinburg North	16:15.8	Sept. 3
9.	Rubio, Benjamin	Donna North	16:16.6	Sept. 3
10.	Contreras, Julius	McAllen Rowe	16:24.2	Aug. 27

Girls

	NAME	SCHOOL	TIME	DATE
1.	Leal, San Juanita	Edinburg North	17:39.9	Sept. 3
2.	Gracia, Naia	Brownsville Veterans	18:44.1	Sept. 3
3.	Navarro, Liana	La Feria	19:03.0	Aug. 12
4.	Cavazos, Cecilia	Sharyland High	19:05.4	Sept. 3
5.	Ramirez, Kenzi	McAllen High	19:18.8	Sept. 3
6.	Zurita, Maddison	Edinburg Economedes	19:18.8	Aug. 12
7.	Davila, Rebecca	Edcouch-Elsa	19:22.6	Sept. 3
8.	Rojas Vasquez, Dana	McAllen High	19:30.4	Sept. 3
9.	Rodriguez, Itzel	Brownsville Veterans	19:32.4	Sept. 3
10.	Fonseca, Alexis	Harlingen South	19:36.1	Sept. 3

*SEND UPDATED TIMES TO [email protected]*

The RGVSports.com staff writers Ivan Palacios, Bryan Ramos and Edward Severn breakdown the latest top 10 rankings, recap the top Week 2 action and look ahead to Week 3’s games to watch, including battles between Brownsville Porter and Donna North and No. 3 Harlingen High and No. 5 Mission Veterans.

The Brownsville Hanna Golden Eagles picked up their first win of the season, taking down then-No. 6 Sharyland High on Friday. Senior running back Kriz Peña spearheaded the Brownsville Hanna offense, racking up over 275 yards of total offense and four scores, earning the RGVSports.com Player of the Week award.

Peña paced the Golden Eagles’ ground game, rushing for 225 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. He made his presence felt in the passing game as well, reeling in two catches for 51 yards, including at 32-yard catch in the final seconds of the first half to cap a 28-0 run by the Golden Eagles.

The Golden Eagles’ workhorse was pivotal in his team’s final drive of the game, carrying the ball seven times for 28 yards to set up the go-ahead score by Joshua Villafranca.

Up next for Peña and Brownsville Hanna (1-1, 0-0) is a non-district clash against Harlingen South (0-2, 0-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Sams Memorial Stadium in Brownsville.

RGVSPORTS.COM 5A-6A TOP 10
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com Class 5A-6A 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 10th-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Edinburg Vela (3) 2-0 38 1
2. PSJA North (1) 2-0 36 2
3. Harlingen High 2-0 34 3
4. San Benito   2-0 27 4
5. Mission Veterans 2-0 24 7
T-6. Mc. Memorial 1-1 16 5
T-6. Shary Pioneer 2-0 16 9
8. Weslaco High 2-0 13 10
9. Brownsville Hanna 1-1 10 NR
10. Sharyland High 1-1  5 6
Others receiving votes: Donna High (2-0).

RGVSPORTS.COM SUB-5A TOP 4
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com sub-5A top 4 poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through 7 points for a fourth-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Port Isabel (4) 2-0 40 1
2. Lyford   1-1 35 3
3. Hidalgo   2-0 33 4
T-4. Bville St. Joseph 2-0 14 NR
T-4. La Villa   1-1 14 2

The RGVSports.com staff recaps Week 1’s biggest games with a look ahead at the Week 2 slate, including the RGVSports Game of the Week featuring No. 7 Mission Veterans at No. 5 McAllen Memorial.

The Mission Veterans Patriots snapped a four-game skid against crosstown rival Mission High to kickoff the 2022 season last Thursday. Junior running back and defensive back Pablo Lopez was pivotal during the Patriots’ 32-20 victory over the Eagles, earning the RGVSports.com Week 1 Player of the Week honor.

Lopez led Mission Veterans offensively with a game-high 145 rushing yards and one touchdown on 14 carries. He also showed off his receiving skills with two receptions for 32 yards and a score. Defensively, Lopez piled up 12 total tackles, 11 solo stops and one assist.

Next for Lopez and Mission Veterans is the RGVSports.com Week 2 Game of the Week as the Patriots pay a visit to McAllen Memorial for a non-district contest at 7:30 p.m. Friday at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

RGVSPORTS.COM 5A-6A TOP 10
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com Class 5A-6A 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 10th-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Edinburg Vela (3) 1-0 38 1
2. PSJA North (1) 1-0 37 2
3. Harlingen High 1-0 33 3
4. San Benito   1-0 27 5
5. McAllen Memorial 1-0 25 4
6. Sharyland High 1-0 18 6
7. Mission Vets  1-0 17 10
8. Los Fresnos   1-0 12 NR
9. Sharyland Pioneer 1-0  4 NR
10. Weslaco High 1-0  3 NR
Others receiving votes: Brownsville Hanna (0-1); Brownsville Veterans (0-1); Edinburg High (1-0); Rio Grande City (1-0).

RGVSPORTS.COM SUB-5A TOP 4
The following are the teams in the RGVSports.com sub-5A top 4 poll, with first-place votes in parentheses and total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through 7 points for a fourth-place vote. The four votes are the writers and editors who cover RGV high school football for AIM Media’s three newspapers: The Monitor, The Valley Morning Star, and The Brownsville Herald.
Team   Records Points Prv.
1. Port Isabel (4) 1-0 40 1
2. La Villa   1-0 32 4
3. Lyford   0-1 24 2
T-4. Hidalgo   1-0 16 NR
T-4. Raymondville 1-0 16 NR
Others receiving votes: Brownsville St. Joseph’s (1-0).