Los Fresnos and Edinburg North are familiar playoff foes, having met one year ago in a Class 5A Division II bi-district matchup won by the Falcons 70-21 in Edinburg.

The Falcons (7-3) and Cougars (7-3) meet again at the same stage of the postseason at 7:30 p.m. today at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in Los Fresnos.

"It should be a better game this year," Cougars coach Roy Garza said.

Los Fresnos coach Scott Ford readily agrees.

HARLINGEN — PSJA North's win against PSJA last week meant just a little more to Bruce Bush than the other nine this season.

Just a little.

The Raiders' 21-20 win against the Bears at PSJA Stadium was also Bush's 250th career win.

Bush spent two years as head coach of the Bears from 1981-82. He said reaching this milestone against one of his many old teams was special.

Bush was 19-3 in two yeas at the San Juan school.

"I got some of my early wins with the Bears," Bush said. "I told the kids this win was symbolic and special."

The Pace offensive line’s development has paralleled the Vikings’ success this season in qualifying for the Class 5A state playoffs a third straight year.

Pace’s O-line was somewhat of a question mark coming into the season as four starters had graduated and senior center Mike Iracheta (5-foot-7, 245 pounds) was the lone holdover.

The Vikings (7-3, 5-2 District 32-5A) take on PSJA North (9-1, 6-1 District 31-5A) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at PSJA Stadium in Pharr in the 5A Division II bi-district playoffs.

HARLINGEN — The Valley's football postseason couldn't have kicked off with a better matchup.

In a rematch of the 80th Battle of the Arroyo, the Harlingen Cardinals will host the San Benito Greyhounds on Friday at Boggus Stadium in a Class 5A, Division I bi-district playoff game. Harlingen, which secured a playoff berth a couple of weeks ago, wrapped up a perfect regular season with a 66-7 win against Harlingen South on Friday.

HARLINGEN — The Valley's football postseason couldn't have kicked off with a better matchup.

In a rematch of the 80th Battle of the Arroyo, the Harlingen Cardinals will host the San Benito Greyhounds on Friday at Boggus Stadium in a Class 5A, Division I bi-district playoff game. Harlingen, which secured a playoff berth a couple of weeks ago, wrapped up a perfect regular season with a 66-7 win against Harlingen South on Friday.

PHARR — Home is where the heart is.

For Harlingen, PSJA Stadium is like home away from home.

Playing at the Pharr Stadium for the third time in four weeks, the No. 1 Harlingen Cardinals handled No. 3 PSJA North 42-14 here on Friday night.

Harlingen clinches at least a share of the District 31-5A title with the win.

The top three teams in Valley Freedom Newspapers’ high school football top 10 poll released Monday received the identical votes from the five district beat writers. After those top three teams, however, there was some jostling of the final seven teams.

Harlingen High (8-0), Sharyland (8-0) and PSJA North (8-0) kept the top three spots, respetively, in the latest poll. The Cardinals, the No. 1 team in the poll since the preseason, will play the No. 3 Raiders on Friday night at PSJA Stadium.

HARLINGEN — It wasn't as pretty as the pink they were wearing but it was a win.

Harlingen's offense was sluggish at best to start the game and the defense gave up a season-high 295 yards but the Cardinals still flew past Edinburg Economedes 49-14 at Boggus Stadium on Friday.

Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez called it an "eye-opener" for his ball club as the Cards (8-0, 5-0) face off with PSJA North (8-0, 5-0) next week at PSJA Stadium for the District 31-5A title.

PHARR — Nothing like a little challenge to spice things up.

PSJA’s challenge? Move the ball against Harlingen’s Cardinal Crush defense.

Harlingen’s challenge? Stop them.

The Cardinals’ defense yielded more yards than their Valley’s best average of 148 but Harlingen still stopped the Running Bears enough to pick up a 45-12 win on Friday at PSJA Stadium and remain perfect at 7-0 for the season.
Harlingen’s defense also held PSJA bruiser Gilbert Espino to only 55 yards rushing.

Espino was averaging 173 yards per game in six contests.

PHARR — If there’s one thing PSJA North coach Bruce Bush has learned about Edinburg North, it’s this: the Cougars don’t give up.

Trailing PSJA High a couple of weeks ago into the final minutes at PSJA Stadium, the Coogs rallied to win 31-28.

Last week, Cougars quarterback Matthew Muñoz tossed two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter against Edinburg Economedes for a 14-13 come-from-behind win at Cats Stadium.