Many arguments could dispute the widely held notion that Region IV remains the weak sister of Class 5A Texas high school football.

• The first-round battles between districts 25 and 26 offer as tough an opening challenge as any in the state;

• The region has traditional powers in Converse Judson and Westlake, who have combined to play in 17 Class 5A state championship games in the past 25 years;

• Region IV’s best stand toe-to-toe with the toughest teams from Houston, having split the 18 Class 5A state semifinal meetings with Region III this decade.

But then there’s Valley Week, the colloquial term used by programs from Austin and San Antonio to describe their annual third-round meetings with the best squads from the Rio Grande Valley. And because the week serves as little more than a bye, all of Region IV suffers its much-maligned reputation.

Don’t believe the bye comparisons? Know your history, football fans. No 5A Valley team has advanced beyond the third round since Edinburg beat San Antonio Taft in 1999. Koy Detmer’s 1990 Mission team is the only other 5A Valley squad to reach the fourth round.

Valley teams, regardless of classification, have a 12-70 record in the third round. Five of those wins came before 1963.

Ask around the coaches’ offices at Westlake this week to understand the difference between the regional semifinals in Region IV and the rest of the state.

In the two previous years, Chap coach Darren Allman and many of his assistants were preparing undefeated Odessa Permian teams for challenging third-round matchups in Region I’s Division I bracket. The hard work didn’t translate to wins. In 2007, Permian fell 38-14 to Euless Trinity, which went on to win a state championship. In 2008, Permian lost 28-22 to Allen, which – you guessed it – went on to win a state championship.

A confident, daring and Harlingen team could stun the Alamodome crowd Friday with a win over Westlake and add a chapter to the brief history of Valley playoff football.

But don’t expect the Cards to carry home a state title like the two previous third-round foes faced by Allman.

After all, that would ruin the reputation of Region IV, right?