Regional Outlook

There’s some interesting district combinations in Region IV and it starts in 13-4A Division II where Cuero and Gonzales who are located southwest of San Antonio will head north into a district that extends north all the way to Navasota. Cuero, who won the state title in 2018, stumbled to 3-7 a year ago with one of the state’s youngest teams, the Gobblers improved late in the year beating eventual state runner-up Wimberley and falling by just eight to regional finalist Navarro. The Gobblers return nine starters on both sides of the ball and look like the early favorite to win a tough 13-4A Division II. La Grange, with their explosive skill talent gets the edge over Giddings for second place. Giddings has young skill talent but is experienced up front on both sides of the ball. Gonzales, down from Division I is the favorite for the last playoff spot over Smithville and their talented defense.

14-4A Division II got plenty of controversy as powerful Wimberley and Geronimo Navarro were placed with four programs who are far from state powers, including two first year programs in San Antonio YMLA and Austin Achieve. Wimberley and Navarro will absolutely dominate the district and likely won’t have a game closer than 40 points, the real battle will be between the remaining four teams for the last two playoff sports. Manor New Tech, up from 3A and with two years of varsity experience under their belts gets the pick for third, while we’ll take a flyer and pick San Antonio YMLA for fourth.

15-4A Division II looks to be a three-team race with Hondo, Bandera and Devine all on paper looking fairly evenly matched, we’ll give the edge to Hondo, but don’t be surprised if these three all split games against each other. There’s a gap between the top three teams and bottom three teams, but the fight for fourth between Crystal City, Carrizo Springs and Pearsall should be fascinating as well.

With the Rio Grande Valley only having three teams left the UIL decided to combine the old Valley district with the Corpus area to create an eight-team 16-4A Division II that looks to be very tough. Sinton appears rejuvenated under second-year head coach Michael Troutman and the Pirates get the edge over another set of Pirates from Rockport-Fulton. The top two teams from the Valley appear to be Raymondville and Rio Hondo, but don’t sleep on Ingleside who appears to be a much-improved team. The big mystery is how will Port Isabel fare in the return of Tony Villarreal to town.

District Predictions

District 13-4A Division II

1. Cuero
2. La Grange
3. Giddings
4. Gonzales
5. Smithville
6. Navasota

District 14-4A Division II

1. Wimberley
2. Geronimo Navarro
3. Manor New Tech
4. San Antonio YMLA
5. Austin Eastside Memorial
6. Austin Achieve

District 15-4A Division II

1. Hondo
2. Bandera
3. Devine
4. Crystal City
5. Carrizo Springs
6. Pearsall

District 16-4A Division II

1. Sinton
2. Rockport-Fulton
3. Raymondville
4. Rio Hondo
5. Ingleside
6. Port Isabel
7. Corpus Christi West Oso
8. Robstown

Predicted Playoff Matchups

W13 Cuero vs F14 San Antonio YMLA

R16 Rockport-Fulton vs T15 Devine

W14 Wimberley vs F13 Gonzales

R15 Bandera vs T16 Raymondville

W15 Hondo vs F16 Rio Hondo

R14 Geronimo Navarro vs T13 Giddings

W16 Sinton vs F15 Crystal City

R13 La Grange vs T14 Manor New Tech

Playoff Sleeper

Giddings: Picked third in their district, don’t be surprised if the Buffaloes play past Thanksgiving, especially if they can find their way out of a tough bi-district matchup with either Navarro or Wimberley (depending on who finishes second in 14-4A D2). Giddings is loaded with veteran experience up front and if their young, but talented skill players mature, they will be a handful late in the year.  

Regional Winner

Wimberley over Sinton: The Pirates continue to re-establish themselves as a premier 4A program in South Texas and they push all the way to the regional finals, but Wimberley’s big game experience proves to be too much as the Texans win a second straight regional title.