Another busy weekend of Texas high school football is upon us, and this week several East Valley squads will be facing opponents from outside the Rio Grande Valley.
Four Brownsville ISD schools will play their second District 16-5A Division I games this week. The Brownsville Lopez Lobos (0-2, 0-1) will get the action started with a 7 p.m. Thursday game at McAllen Rowe (1-1, 1-0).
On Friday, district foes Brownsville Pace (1-1, 1-0) and Brownsville Porter (1-1, 0-1) will face off at 7 p.m. at Sams Memorial Stadium. Brownsville Veterans Memorial (1-1, 1-0) will play host to Weslaco East (1-0, 1-0) at 7 p.m. at Brownsville Veterans’ on-campus stadium.
Brownsville Rivera (1-1) will travel to Rio Hondo (2-0) for a final non-district bout at 7:30 p.m. Friday before both teams open district play in Week 5.
Rivera and four other District 32-6A teams will have byes in Week 4 before beginning district play. The final tuneup for the No. 4 Harlingen High Cardinals (1-1) will be against Laredo United (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Boggus Stadium. No. 7 Harlingen South (2-0) travels to Alice (0-2) for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday.
The No. 6 San Benito Greyhounds (2-0) have their third consecutive home game, facing Schertz Clemens (0-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Bobby Morrow Stadium. Los Fresnos (1-0) returns to action after canceling its Week 2 contest due to COVID-19 with a road contest against Corpus Christi Calallen (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Santa Maria (1-1) added a game to its schedule this week and will now face San Benito’s JV squad at 6 p.m. Thursday in San Benito. Marine Military Academy (1-0) also will be in action Thursday, playing host to Monte Alto (0-2) at 7 p.m.
All other games involving sub-5A teams will be played Friday.
The No. 9 Lyford Bulldogs (2-0) will host the Raymondville Bearkats (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. in a return to the “Cotton Bowl” rivalry. La Feria (1-0) plays host to Donna North (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Lions Stadium. The Lions will be playing for the first time since Week 1, and the Donna North Chiefs come in after ending a 30-game losing streak last week.
Port Isabel (2-0) will be chasing career win No. 200 for coach Tony Villarreal when they travel to Aransas Pass (0-2) for a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Santa Rosa Warriors (0-2) play host to the La Villa Cardinals (1-1) at 7:30 p.m. looking for the first win under new coach Joe Marichalar.
Brownsville St. Joseph (1-1) and Brownsville Hanna (1-1) both have byes this week.
SJA senior quarterback Luigi Cristiano was selected as the private school Built Ford Tough Player of the Week for his Week 2 performance in which he threw for 375 yards and six touchdowns against Santa Rosa.
