By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZThe Paz Files
AUSTIN, Texas - Their sports history is strewn with failure, with perceptions in other parts of the state that these kids from the Rio Grande Valley are just sons of farmworker whose tired backs never were engineered for hard fights. How many Valley high school teams have given up against the always-bigger and faster teams from San Antonio?
Too many to count.
High school football ranks high on the list of Texas pride. Books and movies and television shows grow out of the fabled exploits on fields from Odessa to Dallas. The state may be lagging in a myriad of social measures, but football on Friday night remains a badge of honor for even the smallest of struggling communities. Why else would little, bitty towns like Lometa play six-man football, rather than stay home and read about boys in Tyler and Longview?
So, when the undefeated Harlingen Cardinals crash onto the field this evening in Kingsville to take on a late-blooming squad from San Antonio Madison High, it will be more than just another stab at a quarterfinals victory by an RGV team. Madison has lost four games this year, including a beating at the hands of powerhouse San Antonio Judson. The Madison Mavericks, however, avenged that defeat in the playoffs.
Harlingen arrives with a full house of support, the team's bright-red likely dominating the color of fan attire in the stands. Yet again, the dream unfolds, weighed down by hopes that span the entire Valley, from Rio Grande City to Brownsville, where regional pride will allow proud residents a chance to set aside loyalties to their own teams for one shining moment all can enjoy. It's a song that's played too long: Valley boys cannot play this game at the state level. This season, they seem to be able to do it, and do it convincingly.
The Cardinals are favored, and should be. Only Abilene High has played with these talented boys, although they did get a scare from Del Rio two games back.
For the Valley, a victory will bring a milestone of sorts. Should Harlingen turn back Madison and bracket rival Dallas Skyline get past The Woodlands, it'll be the first time that a Valley high school has played a squad from legendary Big D. That, however, comes with the proverbial two-edged sword. Skyline is generally regarded as the Pittsburgh Steelers of Texas high school football. It counts a half-dozen linemen in the 300-lb range and speed to burn, of the sort never seen in the RGV.
That's the contest to look forward to, a classic battle between speed & brawn and speed and more speed. The Cardinals can run. No one disputes that anymore. It'll be the muscle that decides that game. That will be the game to go and see, to pay to see.
Tonight, it says here that Harlingen wins the game against Madison.
Wins it with ease...
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5 comments:
Harlingen 38 Madison 21
Final score!
Kingsville for the game and then onto san Antonio for the tamale festival! It should be a great weekend for the Valley.
Good post. Agree that Cardinals will win even if I'm from Los Fresnos. Thankz
Another Valley team bites the dust. Nothing has changed for our kids. Harlingen was over its head outside the Valley.
Madison tail backs run right at the heart of the Cards defense, and broke out good yardage. Madison is similiar to DelRio, but a little faster.
They ran out of the I formation and the spread. They had 2 tailbacks one with 1900 yards and the other for 1,000, that number 2out ran the one on one defense the cards employed.
One of the backs is a division one prospect.
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