ROY HESS | Staff Writer
If teams didn’t already know it, they’re quickly learning that every week is a challenge in the District 16-5A Division I football race.
Given that it’s a 10-team district and there’s a lot of parity involved, the games have been quite meaningful from the very start.
This week, two games in 16-5A Division I match conference unbeatens at 2-0 as Rio Grande City (3-0 overall) is at Mission Veterans Memorial (2-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and PSJA Southwest (3-0) visits Brownsville’s Sams Memorial Stadium to face Pace (2-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
From those matchups, two teams will emerge with 3-0 district records and hold the upper hand in the conference standings.
Pace has weathered the storm twice in defeating Porter (17-14) and Donna High (22-14) during its first two district contests. Now the Vikings face a PSJA Southwest team that favors the run and has gained wins against Donna High (28-14) and PSJA Memorial (41-14).
“PSJA Southwest is a good running team,” Pace coach Danny Pardo said. “They have a good fullback and a good quarterback. It’ll be a battle, just like every (district) game.
“The consensus seems to be that the top four or five teams (in our district) have a shot at the championship,” Pardo added. “It could be anybody. (Defending champion) Mission Veterans has looked the most impressive so far. It will be another challenge for us this week. We’ll have our hands full. Things are starting to heat up. We’ll see what happens.
“It’s not surprising, really. I kind of expected it to be a tight race all along (in 16-5A Division I).”
District 16-5A Division I starts things off this week at 7 p.m. today at Sams with Lopez (0-3, 0-2) playing Porter (1-2, 0-2) in the latest edition of the “Battle of Southmost” series. Lopez won 21-14 last year to lead the series 12-9. The Lobos have prevailed during each of the last three “Battle of Southmost” games.
The “Battle of Southmost” is The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week.
The only other Valley game on tap at 7 p.m. today is a non-conference matchup that finds Los Fresnos (1-2) at Edinburg Vela (2-1), which fell from No. 1 to No. 3 in the Valley rankings after losing 33-22 to new No. 1 McAllen Memorial (3-0) last week.
Other 16-5A Division I games scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Friday have Brownsville Veterans Memorial (2-1, 1-1) at PSJA Memorial (0-3, 0-2) and Donna High (1-2, 0-2) at La Joya Palmview (1-2, 1-1).
Brownsville Veterans is trying to bounce back after losing 42-21 at home to Mission Veterans last week.
“The key (for us) offensively is doing a better job in the pass game this week by protecting quarterback Liam Longoria, who when he has the adequate time to throw, is as good as there is throwing the ball down the field,” Chargers coach David Cantu said. “Also, establishing a more consistent run game will benefit our attack.
“Defensively, it’s critical to limit the big plays,” Cantu added. “Last week that was a struggle, and this week, we face another of the top athletes in our district in versatile athlete Michael Munoz, who will line up in different positions to try to create mismatches.”
No other Valley districts besides 16-5A Division I have started yet. Other conferences begin Sept. 26.
Non-district matchups involving Metro-area teams at 7:30 p.m. Friday find Sharyland Pioneer (2-1) vs. Rivera (1-2) at Sams, Hanna (1-2) at Sharyland High (2-1), St. Joseph Academy (2-1) at Raymondville (2-1) and La Feria (3-0) at Port Isabel (1-2).
Rivera snapped a 21-game losing streak with last week’s 32-0 win against Valley View at Brownsville Sports Park.