(Edinburg, Texas)-It’s been a longtime waiting for the Edinburg North Cougars (7-2, 4-0) as they clinched a share of the District 31-6A title for the first time since 2001 by defeating Edinburg (5-4, 3-1) on Friday night at a near-capacity crowd at Richard R. Flores Stadium. To win the outright title, the Cougars will need to defeat Edinburg Economedes (1-8, 0-4) next week. “It feels good and the kids deserve it. I was coaching at the middle school at BL Garza junior high when we last won this title. It’s awesome,” says head coach Gonzalez. With the win, the Edinburg North Cougars is set to meet 32-6A fourth place team, Los Fresnos in the UIL State 6A Division I Bi-District Championships while the Edinburg Bobcats will have to wait on what classification they will play in because Mission and La Joya will meet this week for the final playoff seeding. PSJA High School has clinched a playoff spot.

On Friday night, the Cougars needed its defense to make the big plays as they struggled throughout the night against a stout Edinburg Bobcats defense. Cougar defensive linemen Fabian Gonzalez picked up a loose fumble and huffed his way from 40-yards for his first-ever high school varsity touchdown. LB Sam Cerda had a huge night leading his Cougars team with two quarterback sacks and one forced fumble, limiting the Bobcats to 196 total yards on offense. Offensively, the Cougars took an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter behind the running of 6’1 200lb running back Ulysses Medez, who ended the night with 126 yards on 18 carries.

Cougars Defense! The Edinburg North Cougars limited the Edinburg Bobcats to three points on Friday night at Richard R. Flores Stadium. (HSSMImages/Ruiz)