“Anytime you line up, you line up to win regardless of what the records are. You have to believe that on any given Friday you can beat the other team.”

If Mission Head Coach Mario Peña has anything to say about this weekend, this is the attitude his beleaguered team will be taking on to the field as his Eagles (2-5, 0-4) face another seemingly insurmountable challenge when they take on a Sharyland team (6-1, 3-1) that will no doubt be looking to vent a little bit after getting their first taste of defeat at the hands of McAllen Memorial last week.

“Ultimately, our kids have shown a lot of class and a lot of team spirit because we’ve been banged up,” said Peña. “They’re playing hard and they’re playing hard until the very end.”

The Eagles did just that last week. After going down 10-0 to La Joya in the first quarter, the Eagles responded by outscoring the Coyotes in the next three quarters. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as La Joya did just enough in the fourth quarter to clip the Eagles 29-21.

Read more: Eagles continue to fight through tough season

Since 2009, District 30-5A has belonged to no one but Sharyland. In that two year span the Rattlers never lost a district game. Not one.

Well, that streak came to an end Friday night as the visiting Memorial Mustangs came in, built a quick and strong lead before withholding the Rattler comeback, winning 28-14 in front of a packed Rattler Stadium.

Read more: Mustangs take down Sharyland

This Friday, two undefeated teams will meet at Rattler Stadium. Only one will retain its unblemished record. McAllen Memorial (6-0, 3-0) will be taking their perfect record into enemy territory when they face the Sharyland Rattlers (6-0, 3-0).

Unblemished records aren’t the only similarity between the two 30-5A schools. Both are coming off impressive wins last week.

Read more: Rattlers, Mustangs stage battle of the season

When discussing his team’s adversity this season and their performance thus far, Veterans Memorial Head Coach David Gilpin, doesn’t sugarcoat the situation.

“We’re realists when we meet in the coaches offices,” said Gilpin. “We’re 2-4 and 2-2 in district play and we’re not happy with that at all. There is no magic thing to say to a team. It’s tough sometimes when we look at what’s going on.”

They say winning solves everything so perhaps the magic elixir for the Patriots will be to get their second win in a row as they face a flailing Roma team this weekend rife with their own woes.

The Patriots have been hit with every possible hardship a football team can. The Patriots lost their star quarterback early in the season and that was only the start of their injury-prone season. On both sides of the ball the Patriots find themselves a threadbare team on the brink of snapping. As the beleaguered team prepares for its next game, the emphasis has been one of endurance and coping.

Read more: Patriots endure, look for two in a row

MISSION - It was a long night for the Veterans Memorial Patriots. Needing a win to push the back into the winners’ column and at least tied for fourth place, the Patriots’ offense struggled in a 19-8 loss to Roma.

Read more: Mistakes take Veterans to 2-3 in District 32

For the casual observer, all the tired tropes about teamwork seem to vanish the minute there’s a change in the score. But coaches will tell you that it isn’t just the wide-receiver who dances into the end-zone or the big bats in baseball that determine a team’s success.  It’s the blocker or the catcher. It’s the specialist. For the Sharyland Lady Rattlers, it’s their setter Jenna Garza.

Sharyland’s 25-7, 25-12, 25-17 dismantling of a strong up-and-coming Mission team last Saturday encapsulated exactly how integral their stalwart setter is to the Rattlers, currently ranked No. 24 by the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s top 25 state volleyball poll.  Time and time again, Garza found her big hitters with sublime sets swinging high left and right, or just placed quick and short.

Read more: Sharyland's Jenna Garza: The magician in the middle