By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
As is many times the situation in sports, what should happen and what could happen are two completely different things.
Such are the possibilities this week in District 32-6A football.
An example is Harlingen South’s 21-20 upset of district leader San Benito one week ago.
At this point of the year, every team wants to have a playoff scenario going into the final week of the regular season. In 32-6A, those postseason scenarios exist for Rivera, San Benito, Brownsville Veterans Memorial, Harlingen High and Los Fresnos, while Hanna, Lopez and South, even with its upset of the Greyhounds, are out of playoff consideration.
Winning this week could alleviate any sort of discouragement related to whether or not a team’s season extends into the postseason as one of four playoff qualifiers from 32-6A.
“Your chances are always good if you control your own destiny (by winning),” Los Fresnos coachClint Finley said.
It is simply a matter of waiting to see what might happen during the next few days, especially for playoff seeding purposes.
This week’s 32-6A schedule kicks off at 7 p.m. Thursday as Brownsville Veterans (5-3, 3-3 district) takes on Lopez (0-9, 0-6) at Sams Memorial Stadium.
The 32-6A schedule continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday as Rivera (4-5, 4-2) visits San Benito (6-3, 5-1) for The Herald’s Game of the Week, and Harlingen High (5-4, 4-2) and South (3-6, 2-4) battle in the annual “Bird Bowl” at Harlingen’s Boggus Stadium.
The weekend’s 32-6A action will be completed at 7 p.m. Saturday as Hanna (3-5, 2-4) plays host to Los Fresnos (6-3, 4-2) at Sams.
“Everyone knows the scenarios. We know them, and San Benito knows them,” said Rivera coach Tom Chavez, whose team is riding a four-game winning streak in district heading into Friday’s road contest. “You win, and you’re in (the playoffs), you lose, and you’re (likely) out. Everyone knows it’s an important game.”
The main focus of attention this week in 32-6A will be at Bobby Morrow Stadium in San Benito, where the Greyhounds can claim the outright district title with a win. The Raiders can secure a spot in the postseason with a victory. San Benitoalready has claimed a playoff spot.
Also, even if they lose this week, Harlingen High and Los Fresnos will still advance to the postseason, regardless of whether they should wind up in a positive-points tiebreaker with possibly Rivera and Brownsville Veterans.
And as crazy as it might sound, one not-too-far-fetched scenario exists that would result in a four-way tie for the 32-6A title if Rivera defeats San Benito, and Harlingen High and Los Fresnos both win.
If that were to happen, the loser in the quest for the playoffs would be Brownsville Veterans because even if the favored Chargers defeat Lopez, they would still have three losses and the other four teams ahead of them in the standings would all have just two.
Then again, San Benito could win and along with losses by Harlingen High and Los Fresnos, coupled with a victory by Brownsville Veterans, there would be a four-way tie for second place in 32-6A between the Raiders, Chargers, Cardinals and Falcons. In that case, three of the four teams would move on to the playoffs with Brownsville Veterans apparently leftout.
With all those scenarios, the most simple equation to get to the postseason for Brownsville Veterans is to win its game with Lopez, and then hope Harlingen High and Los Fresnos are victorious while pulling for San Benito over Rivera. The Chargers beat the Raiders 42-24 on Oct. 4. Any head-to-head tiebreaker between Rivera and Brownsville Veterans for fourth place in 32-6A would go to the Chargers.
One year ago, Rivera edged out Brownsville Veterans and Hanna on a positive-points tiebreaker for fourth place in District 32-5A to reach the playoffs. The Raiders went on to upset District 31-5A champion McAllen High in the first round of the postseason.
The Chargers can only win their game against Lopez and hope the scenario that allows them to go to the playoffs becomes reality.
“There’s hope for the future, so there’s power in the present,” Chargers coach David Cantu said. “We’ve had productive practices, and we’re all eager to get back on the field (for our next game). If we deserve to be in the postseason, then we’ll be there.”
In regular-season finales involving Metro-area 32-5A teams at 7:30 p.m. Friday, it’s Mercedes (8-1, 6-0) vs. Porter (2-7, 1-5) at Sams and Pace (3-6, 2-4) at PSJA Southwest (5-4, 3-3). The Cowboys and Vikings are both out of the playoff picture.
In District 16-4A Division II at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Port Isabel (7-2, 2-2) plays host to Raymondville (5-4, 2-2). Regardless of the outcome, both teams are in the playoffs.
St. JosephAcademy(5-4, 1-3) is at San Antonio Antonian (8-1, 4-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday for a TAPPS district game to close the regular season. The Bloodhounds are still alive for a TAPPS playoff berth.