Jaimez: 3rd round of the playoffs doesn't have to mean the end of the line

Welcome to Valley Week!

Yup, it’s that time of year again. You know the third round of the football state playoffs.

The week when the quest for state supremacy ends for ALL Valley schools.

Yeah that week.

Being a Valley boy, that term irks me for obvious reasons.

In 11 seasons of covering high school football in the Valley, I’ve met and interviewed a lot of great coaches and players.

I’ve witnessed first hand the hard work and countless hours they put in week in and week out since August for the chance to reach the third round of the playoffs.

And to call the third round "Valley Week" does them and the Valley no justice. I don’t know who coined the term but I hate it.

And it’s something that the media in San Antonio and central Texas regard as fact.

This week three Valley teams will play formidable opponents trying to prove the naysayers wrong. And while one win will not remove the stigma that San Antonio and Austin area teams are superior, it will shut them up for now.

Harlingen (12-0), McAllen Memorial (12-0) and Weslaco East (11-1) carry the Valley banner this week. And rest assured there’ll be a host of rabid fans from the Valley there to support them, even if just in spirit.

Since I don’t cover McAllen Memorial and Weslaco East regularly, I don’t know too much about them.

I do know the Mustangs play good defense and that Matthew Kauffmann is a beast. Memorial plays an exceptional San Antonio Reagan squad that’s probably getting ready for Cibolo-Steele next week.

Oh, the arrogance!

I also know that East running back Aaron Munguia is an animal and that the Wildcats year in and year out have one of the best offensive lines in the Valley.

The Wildcats play Cedar Park, a regular on the state’s top 10 all season and last year’s opponent for East in the same round.

Godspeed to the Mustangs and the Wildcats and head coaches Armando Cuellar of East and Bill Littleton of Memorial. And kudos to the Mustangs for bringing the Reagan Rattlers to McAllen.

As for the Cardinals, they’ve felt this was going to be a special year all along. And it’s been so far.

But it almost ended at Comalander Stadium last week.

Harlingen got by Del Rio, 37-34, in its closest victory since the one-point win against Abilene.

You have to give credit where credit is due and the Rams were well prepared and came out ready to play. Del Rio’s intensity was unlike any of the previous opponents the Cardinals had played, including Abilene.

But while many other teams might have succumbed to the adversity, Harlingen rose to the challenge.

The Cardinals, a state championship caliber team in my opinion, showed a lot of heart and character in the second half.

Harlingen’s defense only allowed 82 yards and no touchdowns (only score was on a kick return) to the same DR team that looked like it would score every time it got the ball in the first half.

It was a singular amazing effort given by a group of kids that refused to lose.

From receiver Randy Bermea’s blocked kicks to Kevin Ledesma’s strong will to win and Brian Blake’s hard running, the Cardinals never felt that they would lose.

Led by Daniel Ramirez, Nathan Prado and some sick play by the defensive line, the defense gave its best second-half effort of the season.

With the ball set up on the Harlingen 17 and Del Rio leading 34-30 with about seven minutes left in the game, it seemed like the Rams would get in for a quick score giving them a two-possession lead.

Instead the Rams went backwards and were forced to kick a field goal, which the amazing Bermea blocked. It was his second of the game.

At that point all momentum shifted. Ledesma marched the Cards 80 yards the other way and ran it in from 28 yards for the go-ahead score.

Up to that point, Harlingen had been in unfamiliar territory. The Cardinals trailed most of the way and were forced to rally.

Even against Abilene, the Cards built a 14-point lead in the second half and it was the Eagles that rallied to force overtime.

But this time it was the Cards that needed the gut check. Harlingen only led twice, at 7-0 and 37-34.

This time it was the Big Red fans that sat on pins and needles watching as the other team kept taking and retaking the lead against their Cardinals. The agony was frustrating and at times scary.

There were too many "key" moments in the game to mention. But a couple that stick out was watching linebacker Nathan Prado return a fumble 50 yards to set up Harlingen on the Del Rio 10. Ledesma later scored to tie the game at 28.

The other came on the ensuing kickoff when Del Rio’s Jordan Terrell, an amazing talent, returned the kickoff 80 yards for the go ahead score. That didn’t stick out though.

On the PAT attempt, Bermea flew in from the left side, blocked the kick and returned it about 80 yards for two points.

It’s no secret that Bermea is fast. The dude’s got wheels and he’s run with the best hurdlers in the nation.

But on that sequence of plays, Bermea personified that Cardinal spirit that everyone keeps telling us will never die.

Years from now, recounts of the story will likely say that Bermea actually flew.

Football is an emotional game. So to go from tying it at 28 to giving up a touchdown on the kickoff and following it up with Bermea’s play, no one in the stadium was sitting and that included the press box.

At some point, everyone at Comalander felt that the dream season that everyone’s been talking, writing and dreaming about could come to an end.

Easily it would have been one of the biggest upsets in Valley history, if not the biggest.

But the Cardinals won and now they play San Antonio Warren on Saturday.

And to top it off it’s Valley Week…blah, blah, blah.

This is the week the Cardinals had been waiting for all year.

Since a loss to Northside Stevens in the third round in 2010, Week 13 has been marked on every Cardinals’ calendar.

This is the week of redemption. It’s a week of thanksgiving and a week for reflection.

It’s a week of reassurance and a week of opportunity.

It might be Valley Week to our upstate foes. But not to me.

To me, this is the Valley’s Week.

Follow Eladio on Twitter @lamerapluma