Mission Veterans against Mercedes lived up to the hype Friday night of being one of the best playoff games going on across the Valley. 

The Tigers defeated the Patriots 44-42 at Tom Landry Stadium in Mission. Mercedes moves on and the season ends for Mission Veterans, but it was still a good season by the Patriots, despite not winning any titles. The Patriots beat some of the better teams in the Valley during non-district and came up just short of winning a district and bi-district title. 

Mission Veterans had a late push to win the game. The Patriots had a chance at an onside kick after junior Roman Reyna scored a touchdown run with a little over a minute left, but the Tigers recovered the kick. 

EDINBURG — Robert Vela knew Brownsville Veterans Memorial was going to make the Sabercats earn it.

Vela built a 25-point halftime lead and answered each time Brownsville Veterans tried to work its way back into the game, picking up a 42-20 bi-district victory Friday night at Richard Flores Stadium.

The win moved Vela to 10-1 and gave interim head coach Sean Landez his first playoff victory in his first season leading the Sabercats.

“Coach Ramirez does a great job establishing the physicality in his team and the fight,” Landez said. “As you saw, they fought to the very end. They fought respectfully. Kudos and a testament to him and his staff.”

Landez said Vela spent the week preparing for the physical style Brownsville Veterans brought into the matchup.

“We prepared our kids with a mindset that it’s going to be a very physical game,” Landez said. “They understood that it was going to be a dogfight. They fought to the very end, and ultimately when we looked up at the end, it was a W.”

MCALLEN — For the first time this season, the McAllen crowd was silenced.

Weslaco East scored touchdowns on its first three possessions and jumped out to a 19-0 lead Friday night at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The crowd went quiet as the Bulldogs, who entered the game 10-0 and had rarely played from behind all season, suddenly found themselves down three scores.

The McAllen sideline, however, never seemed to panic.

“Because we haven’t really been here at all this season, how are we going to respond?” McAllen High head coach Patrick Shelby said. “Almost down by 21… but it only takes one play.”

The Bulldogs eventually found that play and immediately took complete control, leading to 62 unanswered points and Bi-District victory over Weslaco East 62-19.

WESLACO — One play is all it took for Weslaco High to establish its dominance Friday.

After a forced three-and-out by its defense, the Panthers took over at their own 42-yard line early in the first quarter.

The Panthers were in the end zone just one play and 58-yards later, with senior Seth Moya breaking loose and sprinting to the end zone to spark a 43-3 blowout win over the Falcons on Friday at Bobby Lacky Stadium in Weslaco.

“We came in thinking we had this in the bag,” Moya said. “Our freshman year we lost to them. We’ve been holding that grudge until now. The fact that we had a chance to play against them really set us to the edge.”

MCALLEN — The last Rio Grande Valley high school football team to defeat Corpus Christi Flour Bluff was the Mission Veterans Memorial Patriots all the way back in 2016.

Now, 10 years later, you can add the Nikki Rowe Warriors to that list.

The Rowe Warriors bounced the Flour Bluff Hornets from the 2026 playoffs with a 44-28 win in a Region IV-5A DI bi-district game Thursday night at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium in McAllen to advance to the area round for the first time in seven years. The playoff victory is also the first of second-year head coach Jamaar Taylor’s career.

“Man, I’m excited,” Taylor said after hugging and taking pictures with his family while holding the Warriors’ bi-district championship trophy. “My family, they know how much work we put into this and it’s just amazing for them to be a part of it. … We want to be AP (advanced placement) Football, as I tell the kids. They showed it tonight. They did an amazing job. Offense and defense comes together with special teams and we got the W.”

SHARYLAND — Sharyland High senior Oscar Cantu caught two touchdown passes and freshman Alex Rojas scored twice on the ground as the Rattlers defeated Brownsville Pace 31-20 in Thursday night’s bi-district playoff game at Richard Thompson Stadium.

Pace gave the District 16-5A Division II champions all they could handle, but Sharyland’s fast start and timely scores proved to be the difference.

Rojas opened the scoring with a 37-yard touchdown run before senior quarterback Francisco Gomez connected with Cantu in the back of the end zone to quickly give the Rattlers a 14-0 advantage.

For a Sharyland team that had battled through several slow starts during the regular season, jumping ahead early was significant. The Rattlers had developed a habit of making things difficult on themselves early in games, but Thursday night they flipped that script and took control from the opening quarter.

PHARR — The last time PSJA North didn’t make it out of the opening round of the postseason was in 2019, when the Raiders failed to qualify for the playoffs after finishing fifth in their district.

Since then, the Raiders have reeled off six straight first round playoff wins, including a 65-14 win last season.

PSJA North continued to dominate their opening round opponents Thursday, rolling past the Edinburg High Bobcats 64-10 during their Region IV-6A DII bi-district round contest at PSJA Stadium in Pharr.

The Raiders have now outscored their last seven first round playoff opponents 342-88.

“It feels pretty good,” PSJA North head coach Marcus Kaufmann said. “These kids are doing a great job. It’s a great program and a great community. Just look at the fans out here going crazy. It’s a fun community to be a part of. It’s the community. They’re resilient and they keep fighting and it carries over to the kids.”

RIO GRANDE VALLEY — Eleven weeks of football have narrowed the field, and for 15 of our teams to watch across the RGV, the road continues into the playoffs.

From an undefeated run through McAllen to undisputed district championship teams in Edinburg Vela, Harlingen and Sharyland, the regular season produced dominant teams, late-season surges and races that went down to the final weeks.

Among the teams moving on are McAllen High, McAllen Rowe, McAllen Memorial, Palmview, Weslaco East, Sharyland, Mission Veterans Memorial, Sharyland Pioneer, Edinburg Vela, Weslaco, Edinburg High, La Joya, Harlingen, PSJA North and Los Fresnos.

MISSION — For a little more than a half, Pioneer had Mission Veterans in trouble.

Then the Patriots took over.

Mission Veterans erased an eight-point second-half deficit and scored the final 24 points Friday night to defeat Pioneer 44-28 at Richard Thompson Stadium, closing the regular season with a win before both teams head into the Class 5A Division II playoffs.

The victory sends Mission Veterans into the postseason at 8-2 overall and 5-1 in District 16-5A Division II, securing the district’s No. 2 seed behind Sharyland.

Pioneer finishes the regular season 5-5 overall and 3-3 in district, entering the playoffs as the No. 4 seed.

McALLEN — Nikki Rowe will enter the postseason having won five straight games.

The Warriors closed the regular season Friday with a 48-14 win over PSJA Memorial at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, finishing 7-3 overall and 6-1 in District 16-5A Division I.

Rowe had already secured the district’s No. 2 seed, but the regular-season finale gave the Warriors another opportunity to work through adjustments before their first-round matchup with Flour Bluff.

Junior quarterback Ramiro “Alex” Leon finished with 202 passing yards and three touchdowns.

“We had stuff to fix, and we came in and we fixed it,” Leon said of Rowe’s halftime adjustments. “We had a reverse come in. That was a big key to our momentum, and that helped us a lot.”

PHARR — Sharyland got everything it wanted from the regular season.

An outright district championship. A perfect 6-0 district record. Seven consecutive wins.

It also got a reminder Thursday night of what could become a problem once the playoffs begin.

Sharyland defeated PSJA Southwest 42-15 to finish the regular season 8-2 overall and undefeated in District 16-5A Division II, completing a run few expected before the season.

“It feels awesome,” Sharyland head coach Craig Krell said. “Especially when no one picked you to win it. Most people, at the beginning of the year, had us finishing third or fourth. For us to get a share of the district championship last week, and then this week to be undefeated district champs, is pretty special.”

MISSION — Mission Veterans took care of the game in front of it Friday night. Now the Patriots can turn their attention to where they will enter the postseason.

Mission Veterans defeated Juarez-Lincoln 43-10 at Tom Landry Stadium, improving to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in District 16-5A Division II.

The Patriots led 7-0 after the first quarter before putting the game away with 22 points in the second.

Quarterback Roman Reyna directed an offense that found success both through the air and on the ground. Alejandro Melendez caught the first touchdown of the night, while Fabian Ruiz and Joseph Vazquez also reached the end zone before halftime.

SHARYLAND — Sharyland High entered Friday night knowing a win would guarantee two things.

A share of the District 16-5A Division II championship and the No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs.

The Rattlers took care of both.

Sharyland defeated Cigarroa 31-12 at Richard Thompson Stadium, improving to 7-2 overall and 5-0 in district play while extending its winning streak to six games.

“So if we won, we were going to have at least a share of the district championship no matter what happens next week,” Sharyland head coach Craig Krell said. “And if we win today, we got the number one seed in the playoffs. So, for us, that was huge.”

McALLEN — Close games have followed Palmview all season.

Friday night, one of them put the Lobos in the playoffs.

With the score tied at 35, Palmview converted a fourth-and-two deep in its own territory, drove into McAllen Memorial territory and watched Rosbel Rebollozo hit a 26-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining for a 38-35 win at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The victory improved Palmview to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in District 16-5A Division I and secured the Lobos a postseason berth.

PHARR — PSJA North took control of the Tri-City Classic early and stayed in front the rest of the way Friday night.

The Raiders defeated PSJA High 38-14 at PSJA Stadium, improving to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in District 32-6A.

Antwon Estrada gave North the lead on its opening possession with a short rushing touchdown. A few minutes later, he made another impact on defense.

With PSJA quarterback Dylan Rodriguez under pressure, Estrada intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, giving the Raiders a 14-0 lead with 5:16 remaining in the first quarter.

McALLEN — Patrick Shelby smiled and pulled out his play sheet.

On the back was the McAllen Bulldog logo. Underneath it was the year 1952.

It has been there since Shelby began coaching at McAllen High, a reminder of the last time, he said, the Bulldogs reached 10-0.

After Thursday night, McAllen is one win away.

The Bulldogs overwhelmed Donna North 77-6 on homecoming night at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium, improving to 9-0 overall and 6-0 in District 16-5A Division I while securing the outright district championship.

Now only Mission stands between McAllen and a 10-0 regular season.

“1952 was the last time McHi football went 10-0,” Shelby said. “So it would be huge for us this year, in 2026. It’s a long time coming.”