Harlingen & Harlingen South football ready for battle in the Bird Bowl
Related Story
High school football fans in the RGV have a packed week ahead, highlighted by one of the area's biggest rivalries: the Bird Bowl.
The Harlingen Cardinals and Harlingen South Hawks face off in the annual matchup.
The Hawks will be hoping for a strong follow up to last year's 17-0 shutout win over their rivals.
"It's always a lot of fun. The community comes out and does a great job supporting their side of town. We're looking forward to it. It's one of the ones that kids get really up for, the community gets up for, so we're excited about it," Harlingen South head coach Israel Gonzalez said.
Harlingen South senior linebacker Jackson Fernandez said the game carries real weight for everyone involved.
"It means a lot, it's a big rivalry, it's been going on for a long time. The community is very involved, the schools you have school spirit week. There's a lot of stuff so it's very important to the community," Fernandez said.
The Cardinals come in with momentum after blowing out Nikki Rowe in their season opener. Junior quarterback Hassan Woolery led the team with four touchdowns in just the first half.
But Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez is making sure his players remember what happened last year.
"Honestly I didn't remember the zero on that. I was looking at the hudl and said what 17-0? we didn't score last year? So I've been whispering to some of the offensive players 17-0 and of course they don't want to hear it," Gomez said.
"I do have something to prove this game but as long as I trust my guys, trust that I've been putting in the work all summer so if I do what I need to do we'll be fine," Woolery said.
The Bird Bowl is not the only big game this week. Weslaco takes on McAllen Memorial in a rematch of last year's close battle and PSJA North faces Mission Veterans.
Channel 5 Sports will have live coverage of the Bird Bowl and other matchups across the Valley as part of First & Goal this Thursday and Friday night.
News
