TXHSFB Regional Review: Rio Grande Valley/Laredo

[caption id="attachment_29252" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Photo by Mary Scott McNabb Photo by Mary Scott McNabb[/caption] Throughout February, Dave Campbell’s Texas Football managing editor Greg Tepper is taking a look back at the 2016 Texas high school football season in each region of the state. For a detailed explanation of the regional breakdowns as well as the rankings methodology, read this piece.Previously... Big Country Super Centex Coastal Bend Dallas-Fort WorthEast TexasEl PasoGolden TriangleHill Country Houston North Texas Northeast Texas Panhandle Permian Basin Piney Woods San AntonioToday: The Rio Grande Valley and Laredo Let me tell you about the most polite angry phone call I've ever received. It was about a year ago. I was sitting at my desk when my phone rang. On the other end of the line was a man in Laredo, who was very pleasant but also very stern. "Mr. Tepper," he said (I'm paraphrasing), "Laredo is not and never has been in the Rio Grande Valley." You see, for years, we had referred to the area known as "the Rio Grande Valley" as, well, anything along the Rio Grande River, up to and including Laredo. But this nice gentleman politely but firmly explained to me (a dummy) that the Rio Grande Valley is a very specific part of the state, and Laredo was its own thing. Now, Laredo is not big enough to constitute its own region — it's comprised of just seven 11-man teams — but it's certainly worth renaming. And because of that phone call, the region is henceforth referred to as "Rio Grande Valley/Laredo." For the sake of clarity, here is a map of how we are defining “Rio Grande Valley/Laredo." Now that we’ve set the boundaries, let’s break down the best of high school football in the Rio Grande Valley/Laredo in 2016. Top 20