The Edinburg Vela SaberCats and Santa Maria Cougars are the Rio Grande Valley’s last two teams standing entering tonight’s regional semifinal round of the UIL playoffs.
The SaberCats and Cougars are tradition-rich programs that have experienced regular season and postseason success in recent years. Now, they’ll have another shot at playoff glory as Edinburg Vela and Santa Maria are one of 16 teams in their respective classes that remain in the state championship chase.
Here’s how the SaberCats and Cougars earned their way to the Sweet 16 and a look at tonight’s fourth-round playoff games.
EDINBURG VELA SABERCATS
Head Coach: Lucio Rodriguez
Roster: EJ Avelar, Jordan Bustamante, Jesus Contreras, Luis Cruz, Armando Garcia, Axel Garza, Aiden Lopez, Noah Lopez, Anthony Moreno, JP Olivarez, Tristan Riojas, Diego Salinas, Sam Sepulveda, Owen Serna, Derek Warkentine, Aden Ybarra.
The SaberCats (35-5) surge into the Region IV-5A tournament as winners of 21 straight games to take on the San Antonio Wagner Thunderbirds (24-11) at 5:30 tonight at Littleton Gym at Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio.
Vela is on a run of five district championships in six seasons and is back in the regional tournament for the first time since 2018-19.
The SaberCats cruised past Harlingen South 69-24 in Round 1 and then held off Laredo Nixon 66-60 in Round 2. Vela followed it up by rolling against 31-5A rival Sharyland Pioneer 63-41 in Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal round to send Vela into tonight’s Sweet 16.
The SaberCats are scoring 67.9 points per game compared to 59.3 from the Thunderbirds.
San Antonio Wagner finished as the No. 3 seed from District 26-2A and made its way to the fourth round with playoff victories against Leander Glenn (54-47), San Antonio Southwest (52-46) and Boerne-Champion (52-49, OT).
The Edinburg Vela-San Antonio Wagner winner advances against the winner of Corpus Christi Veterans (27-8) and San Antonio Veterans (38-1) in the Region IV-5A final at 2 p.m. Saturday at Littleton Gym.
Corpus Christi Veterans and San Antonio Veterans play at 7:30 tonight at Littleton Gym following the conclusion of the SaberCats-Thunderbirds regional semifinal.
SANTA MARIA COUGARS
Head Coach: Johnny Cipriano
Roster: Miguel Alaniz, Jason Aleman, Aro Cantu, Esiah Gracia, Reynaldo Gutierrez, Juan Lopez, Mauricio Lugo, Luis Otero, Adam Saldivar, Immanuel Saldivar, Matias Saldivar, Dante Tamez.
The Cougars (19-12) make their return to the Region IV-2A tourney for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign and are set to face the Sabine Pass Sharks (21-10) at 6 tonight at Buda Johnson High School in Buda.
Santa Maria won its fourth straight district championship this season and enters Round 4 riding a 15-game winning streak.
For longtime head coach Cipriano, who is in his third year with the program, Santa Maria becomes the second program he’s helped lead to the regional tournament after the Cougars fell one round shy a season ago.
The Cougars come in scoring 57.4 points per game, three more than the Sharks’ 54.4.
Santa Maria opened the playoffs with a 64-54 win over Three Rivers before an area-round takedown of Johnson City, 57-47. In Tuesday’s regional quarterfinal, the Cougars used a boost from a 25-point third quarter to get past San Antonio Lee Academy 54-47 and earn their spot in tonight’s regional semi.
Sabine Pass finished as the No. 2 seed from District 25-2A and has picked up playoff wins over Normangee (65-48), Hearne (49-47) and Thorndale (44-39) to set up the regional semifinal matchup with Santa Maria.
The winner between Santa Maria and Sabine Pass will meet the winner of Kenedy (22-10) and Thrall (28-5) in the Region IV-2A final at 1 p.m. Saturday at Buda Johnson High School. Kenedy and Thrall face off at 8 tonight at Buda Johnson following the conclusion of the Cougars-Sharks regional semifinal.
