SAN ANTONIO — The "R" words are endless.

Rematch.

Revenge.

Respect.

But the Harlingen Cardinals can think of one only.

Redemption.

Hollywood couldn't have scripted it better.

One year after the Cardinals got beat by Austin Westlake at the Alamodome, the schools face off again in a Class 5A, Division I regional game.

Same place. Same date. Same teams.

"We're all excited and ecstatic about this," Harlingen DT Nick Aviles said after a morning Thanksgiving Day practice.

Congratulations District 31-5A for having the best, and toughest, teams in the Rio Grande Valley.

All remaining playoff teams come from 31-5A, and up until 6 p.m. last Saturday, all four teams were in the playoffs. But that may be where the excitement ends this week as all three teams have an uphill battle in their respective playoff matches.

Each team this week has a monumental task at hand, although it isn’t out of the question for one or more teams to win this week.

Editor's Note: Keep checking back to this file on RGVSports.com throughout the weekend as playoff pairings, along with the time, date and place of the games, become finalized.

Thursday Nov. 12

BI-DISTRICT

CLASS 4A Division I

Flour Bluff 55, Mission Veterans Memorial 35

Friday Nov. 13

BI-DISTRICT

CLASS 5A Division I

Harlingen High 41, San Benito 21

Edinburg High 18, Brownsville Hanna 14

San Antonio Southwest 58, Rio Grande City 28

KINGSVILLE — In foot-ball, it’s usually the offen-sive unit that shines. It’s the offensive skill players who make headlines and get all the attention. It’s usually the offense that makes the difference.

But against San Antonio Southwest on Friday, it was the defense that made the difference for the Harlingen Cardinals in their area-round win.

After running wild against Rio Grande City in the bi-district round last week, Southwest’s offense was virtually shut down by the Cardinals Big D.

KINGSVILLE — Behind a stellar defensive effort and just enough from its offense, Harlingen High lived to play one more week as it defeated San Antonio Southwest 21-14 on a wet and muddy field Friday night at Javelina Stadium in a Class 5A Division I area game.

Harlingen (12-0) will play Austin Westlake at 4 p.m. Friday at the Alamodome in a rematch of last year’s regional contest.

GAME AUDIO

Upcoming and archived game audio

AREA ROUND GAME STORIES

Harlingen fends off Southwest for Westlake rematch

PSJA North recovers from 21 down to beat Eagle Pass

Mission High comes up short against Gregory-Portland

Cougars' defense denies Rattlers in red zone for upset

Bobcats' playoff run falls short against Rams

This time, late heroics fall short for Tigers against Sandcrabs

AREA ROUND FEATURES

KINGSVILLE — See Tre'vion Johnson. See Tre'vion Johnson run. See Tre'vion Johnson run…a lot.

It's no secret that the SA Southwest Dragons love to run the ball.

In 10 games, including a bi-district beatdown of Rio Grande City last week, the Dragons have rushed for 2,770 yards.

Johnson leads the team with 1,202 yards and 20 touchdowns, including a 196-yard and four-TD effort against the Rattlers last week. SW has gained 3,542 total yards on the season.

All you need to know to get ready for this week's playoff games:

ONLINE EXTRAS

Playoff Schedule

Live Game Updates

Live Audio From Valley Games

Buy game photos

Follow our sports staff on Twitter

Sign up for our high school football pick'em

Read our blogs from the past week

Sign up for text alerts (football scores)

Talk high school football on our message boards

AREA ROUND GAME DAY PREP MATERIAL

Keep track of high school football games weekly with our sportswriters.

Our sportswriters will give you live updates from the games they are covering each week. If you would like to chat with our sportswriters or comment with other fans during the live game updates, sign up for an account by clicking on this link. Before, during and after games, check out our message boards by clicking on this link and our blogs by clicking on this link. Most importantly, enjoy the games.

We will have live updates from these games this week:  

RGVSports.com and its voice of high school football, Joe Bowling, will have live streaming audio from one game Friday night and Saturday night this week, as will be the case throughout the playoffs. His live broadcasts begin roughly 20 minutes before game time each night.

Bowling will be live from the following games this weekend:

Friday: San Antonio Southwest vs. Harlingen High (7:30 p.m. kickoff)

Saturday: Port Lavaca Calhoun vs. Mercedes (7 p.m. kickoff)

The broadcasts and archives can be found by following this link