Sports trivia time!
How well do you know local sports?
Just as the opening of non-district football and volleyball games mark the beginning of high school sports every school year here in the Valley, and across the state, the final softball and baseball playoff games mark the end. And with the baseball playoffs heading into the third round this week, the end of another year of covering high school sports in the Valley is right around the corner for those of us who are fortunate enough to do so for a living.
How is that possible? Wasn’t it just a month or two ago that we were on the sidelines of football games and in the bleachers of volleyball games in the stadiums and gyms our local high school student athletes compete in? Apparently not, because as the calendar so clearly confirms, the months of August, when football and volleyball kickoff, and May, when the final softball and baseball playoff games are usually played here in the Valley, are not weeks apart, they are nine months apart.
We thought it would be fun to see how much you, our readers, remember from the 2025/2026 sports year with our Progress Times sports quiz.
UTRGV Vaqueros’ Football Team
This year marked a big change in our coverage of local sports as we added coverage of the UTRGV Vaqueros’ football team. Having an opportunity to cover the Vaqueros during their inaugural season was exciting for us and we hope you, our readers, found our coverage to be thorough and worthy of your time. If you followed the Vaqueros, either in person at the games, or through our coverage, you should be able to answer the majority of these trivia questions about them without having to resort to peeking at the answers below. Are you ready?
1) What is the name of the Vaqueros’ home stadium?
2) Which conference are the Vaqueros members of?
3) What was the Vaqueros’ overall record this season?
4) Who is the Vaqueros football team’s head coach?
5) What was the name of the Vaqueros’ starting quarterback?
6) Which Big 7 football team did this quarterback play for?
Big 7 High Schools
Over the years, we at the Progress Times have focused on covering local high school sports teams. More specifically, the varsity sports teams from the seven high schools in the Mission, Sharyland and La Joya school districts, the Big 7. These include the Mission Eagles, Mission Veterans Patriots, Sharyland Rattlers, Sharyland Pioneer Diamondbacks, La Joya Coyotes, La Joya Palmview Lobos and the La Joya Juarez-Lincoln Huskies.
Here are trivia questions about these seven schools’ teams and their 2025/2026 seasons that hopefully you’ll be able to answer most of. If not, you should at least learn a thing or two about these teams and their players.
Football:
7) Which Big 7 team won the Battle of Conway football game?
8) What is the name of the Mission Eagles’ football team’s first-year coach?
9) Of the three Big 7 teams District 16-5A-1, which was the only one to qualify for the playoffs?
10) How many Big 7 football teams made the playoffs?
11) How many Big 7 football teams made it past the first round of the playoffs?
Volleyball:
12) Which Big 7 volleyball team went 16-0 to win the District 30-5A championship?
13) Which Big 7 volleyball team went 15-1 to win the District 31-5A championship?
14) How many Big 7 volleyball teams made the playoffs?
15) Which Big 7 volleyball team went the deepest into the playoffs?
Boys Basketball:
16) Of the four boys’ basketball teams in District 30-5A, which was the only one to make the playoffs?
17) Of the two Big 7 boys’ basketball teams in District 31-5A, which beat the other to break a regular season tie and qualify for the playoffs?
18) Which was the only Big 7 boys’ basketball team to get past the first round of the playoffs?
Girls Basketball:
19) Which two Big 7 girls’ basketball teams were District 30-5A co-champions with identical 13-3 records?
20) Which was the only Big 7 girls’ basketball team in District 31-5A to make the playoffs?
21) How many Big 7 girls’ basketball teams made the playoffs?
22) Which Big 7 girls’ basketball team went the deepest into the playoffs?
Boys Soccer
23) Which was the only Big 7 boys’ soccer team to win an outright district championship?
24) Which two Big 7 boys’ soccer teams faced off against each other in the Area round of the playoffs?
25) Which Big 7 boys’ soccer team went the deepest into the playoffs?
26) How far into the playoffs (into which round) did that team go?
Girls Soccer
27) Which Big 7 girls’ soccer team lost the District 30-5A championship in a shootout on the last game of district play?
28) Which two other Big 7 girls’ soccer teams qualified for the playoffs in District 30-5A?
29) Which was the only non-30-5A girls’ Big 7 soccer team to qualify for the playoffs?
Softball:
30) Which Big 7 softball team claimed their second district championship in a row?
31) Which Big 7 softball team finished second in their district despite having a 14-2 record?
32) How many Big 7 softball teams advanced past the first round of the playoffs?
Baseball:
33) Which Big 7 baseball team claimed its fifth district championship in a row?
34) Which Big 7 baseball team won their final 11 games of district play and were ranked 8th in the state as they entered the playoffs?
35) Which three Big 7 baseball teams are among the final five Valley teams still alive in the playoffs?
Compare your answers with the correct answers below and give yourself three points for every correct answer. That makes the highest possible score 105. How did you do?
Answers: 1) Robert and Janet Vackar Stadium 2) Southland Conference 3) 9-3 4) Travis Bush 5) Eddie Lee Marburger 6) Pioneer Diamondbacks 7) Mission Veterans Patriots 8) Joseph “Jody” Cantu 9) Mission Eagles 10) Five 11) Three 12) Mission Veterans Lady Patriots 13) Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks 14) Three 15) Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks 16) Palmview Lobos 17) Pioneer Diamondbacks 18) La Joya Coyotes 19) Mission Veterans Lady Patriots & Palmview Lady Lobos 20) Sharyland Lady Rattlers 21) Four 22) Sharyland Lady Rattlers 23) Palmview Lobos 24) Pioneer Diamondbacks & Juarez-Lincoln Huskies 25) Palmview Lobos 26) Fifth 27) Juarez-Lincoln Lady Huskies 28) Palmview Lady Lobos & Mission Lady Eagles 29) La Joya Lady Coyotes 30) Pioneer Lady Diamondbacks 31) Palmview Lady Lobos 32) None 33) Palmview Lobos 34) Sharyland Rattlers 35) Sharyland Rattlers, Palmview Lobos & La Joya Coyotes
