Progress Times

11/14/2025

Big 7 Players of the Week for Week 11!

11/14/2025

Here’s a brief overview of this week’s playoff matchups. ⬇️

Dreams of Gold By Tyler Green | November 14, 2025 | 0 Big 7 Football Bi-district Preview     After another grueling season of strife and conquest, the UIL state football playoffs are back. Over the next six weeks, teams from all over this great state will fight each other for the right to call the...

11/14/2025

Tonight at Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium in Mission, the Mission Veterans Patriots earned their program’s 19th gold ball and their team’s second by defeating the Brownsville Pace Vikings by a score of 41-14 in their Bi-district round playoff match-up. The Patriots’ scoring was led by senior running back Benjamin “Bennie” Martinez who opened the Patriots’ scoring with a 25 yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Roman Reyna with 1:48 remaining in the first quarter. This tied the game at 7-7.

Martinez would score two more touchdowns, both on the ground. The first from 30 yards out with 1:57 remaining in the second quarter and the second from 58 yards out on the second play of the third quarter. That made the score 28-7 in favor of the Patriots.

“It feels phenomenal man,” Martinez said about the win immediately after the game. “I mean after last year, I never thought this would happen. We had a win against Palmview, and we knew that we had a great team here. We gotta just keep it going and stay focused.”

As for what the fact that the Vikings scored a touchdown on their opening drive but wouldn’t score again until their final drive with less than two minutes left in the game says about his team, Martinez said, “I mean, it says a lot. It says a lot about our defense. We just needed to set the tone on offense and they had it going on the next drive.”

Speaking of the defense, they got in on the scoring and contributed to the Patriots’ 41 unanswered points when senior safety Quinten Valverde intercepted a Vikings’ pass and ran it into the end zone from 60 yards out with 7:16 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Senior wide receivers Freddy Villarreal and Joey Hernandez scored the Patriots' other two touchdowns; Villarreal on a 19 yard pass and Hernandez on a 13 yard pass, both from Reyna.

Gold balls, which are earned by winning championships, is what Patriots’ head coach David Gilpin measures each year’s team’s success by. As District 15-5A-2’s undefeated champions and now as Bi-district champions, the 2025 Patriots have added two more gold balls to their trophy case. When asked how that sounds, Gilpin laughingly said, “Ha, ha, ha…it sounds good. It sounds good…and the opportunity to go after gold ball #20 next week…and the opportunity to play over Thanksgiving next week…and the opportunity to continue our quest to try to match the 2018 team, or take it further.”

“That’s the goal every time we start a season,” Gilpin added. “We’re trying to be the greatest team that’s ever played football at Mission Veterans Memorial and right now that’s the 2018 team.”

Next up for the Patriots will be the winner of tomorrow night’s matchup between Corpus Christi Miller and Victoria West in the Area round next week.

Here are some photos from tonight’s game. To view more, click here:

https://progresstimes.smugmug.com/Sports/VeteransMemorial/November-13-2025-Football-VMHS-vs-BrownsvilleMM

Progress Times photos by Mario Magallon.

11/14/2025

We’re at Tom Landry Hall of Fame Stadium for tonight’s Bi-district round playoff game between the Mission Veterans Patriots and the Brownsville Pace Vikings. Kickoff is at 7:00 so there’s still time to come on out and join the Patriots’ faithful in cheering them on to victory.

Look for game action photos, as well as a game recap, right here on our page after the game. GO BIG BLUE!!!

11/13/2025

This weeks football contest is here!

Enter for FREE and score your shot at a $25 gift card!

Link in bio or ⬇️

https://www.progresstimes.net/football-contest/

11/12/2025

Last week La Joya ISD broke ground on a major renovation of the Coach Rod Softball Field, honoring longtime Lady Coyotes Head Coach Carlos “Charlie” Rodriguez Jr., who died earlier this year on Feb. 7 at age 64. ⬇️

Celebrating a Legacy of Athletic Excellence By Editor | November 12, 2025 | 0 La Joya ISD honors late Coach Charlie Rodriguez     This week La Joya ISD broke ground on a major renovation of the Coach Rod Softball Field, honoring longtime Lady Coyotes Head Coach Carlos “Charlie” Rodriguez Jr., ...

11/11/2025

The La Joya school district will spend the next nine months developing a more efficient transportation system to better support student academic outcomes. ⬇️

La Joya ISD to overhaul bus routing system after 20 years By Lea Juarez | November 11, 2025 | 0 The La Joya school district will spend the next nine months developing a more efficient transportation system to better support student academic outcomes.   LJISD hasn’t updated its bus routing system ...

11/10/2025

In a federal court filing last Friday, La Joya Mayor Isidro Casanova alleged that he had been improperly fired from his job as an attendance and truancy supervisor at La Joya ISD in 2024. ⬇️

La Joya mayor sues school district By Matt Wilson | November 10, 2025 | 0 In a federal court filing last Friday, La Joya Mayor Isidro Casanova alleged that he had been improperly fired from his job as an attendance and truancy supervisor at La Joya ISD in 2024.     The district, Casanova alleged, ...

11/09/2025

Tonight, the UTRGV Vaqueros football team returned to Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium and outlasted the Nicholls State University Colonels (3-7, 3-3) in a violent contest of wills, emerging with a 28-21 victory.

"Can't say enough. I love those dudes to death, and I've never been more proud of any group I've been around than that group in there," Vaqueros' head coach Travis Bush said about his team following their close home win.

The Vaqueros opted to adjust their typically fast-paced, air-it-out offense in favor of a more physical, between-the-tackles approach to match the physicality of their opponents. They leaned on running back grad transfer Nathan Denney, who ended the evening with 170 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Denney had nine touches on the Vaqueros' final drive.

"Credit to Coach Rybacki for doing some things to take away our longballs and take away our explosive plays to Tony and Xayvion. Then again, now we gotta go back to the run game, and we gotta work the middle receivers. So again, credit to our guys taking what they gave us," Bush said when describing the blue-collar mentality his team played with tonight.

Wide receiver Tony Diaz and tight end Tavian Cord's clutch plays in the passing game, particularly on short-yardage plays and in the red zone, resulted in one touchdown each. Sharyland Pioneer alum quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger finished the evening 20-30 with 247 yards passing, two touchdowns, and one interception.

On defense, the Vaqueros continued to impress. Defensive back TJ Neal and linebacker Spencer Rich combined for 18 total tackles. The opportunistic bunch recorded timely stops and limited the Nicholls State offense with constant pressure and smothering coverage. The Vaqueros mauled quarterback Ean Rodrigue and wreaked havoc in the Colonels' backfield, sacking Rodrigue three times in the process.

"Energy and effort. As long as we're straining the best we can and giving max effort, we can go toe-to-toe with dang near anyone..." Neal, the sure-tackling defensive back, said.

The Vaqueros are now 7-3, 3-3 with only two games remaining in their inaugural season. They'll head back to Louisiana next week for a Saturday matchup against the McNeese State University Cowboys (4-6, 3-3) before returning home one final time for their regular season finale against East Texas A&M (2-8, 2-4) on November 22nd. The Vaqueros have reached numerous milestones this year; all that's missing is a conference road win.

"This is our last opportunity. We wanna check that box. We're gonna get that conference road win at some point. Would love for it to be this first group. So, that's going to be the challenge this week; that's all we're going to attack. One week and try to be 1-0 next week," Bush said about the quest for UTRGV football's first road conference win.

Here are some photos from tonight's game. To view more, click here:

https://progresstimes.smugmug.com/Sports/UTRGV-Vaqueros/Nov-08-2025-Football-Nicholls-vs-UTRGV-LG

Progress Times photos by Luciano Guerra.

11/08/2025

Enjoy this clip of last night’s post-game celebration! Veterans Memorial High School-Mission CISD football won their 6th district championship in 9 years!