For the third year, the Wildcat football program kicks off its season playing the Waco La Vega Pirates this Friday night, August 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Waco. Game time temperatures may be in the mid-80s with a possibility of a stray rain shower.
About the Pirates …
La Vega is an independent school district in Waco but separate from Waco ISD. The Pirates have been a successful program over the years. Their first season was in 1931. They had a good winning run in the 1940s and several 10+ winning seasons scattered over the following years.
But, it was in the mid-2010s that La Vega showed their best. The Pirates won state titles in 2015 and 2018. For the period 2015 through 2019, La Vega went 71-6. They have continued with winning seasons since but they have high hopes for returning to another 10+ winning season.
Last year, the Pirates finished 7-5 and 2-2 in district play. La Vega was an area finalist in the playoffs. This year the team is reporting 25 returning players including 12 lettermen. In that number are 9 starters on offense and 7 on defense. The Pirates are coached by Don Hyde who is in his 7th year at the school.
A change in classification with new realignment …
With the new Texas UIL realignment for 2024-26, La Vega moved down from 4A Division I to Division II because of declining enrollment numbers. The high school enrollment number used for realignment was reported at 877.
Note: The new 4A Division II enrollment numbers for the next two years are set at 545 to 956 students which includes 94 Texas public/charter schools. 4A Division I numbers are set at 957 to 1314. This includes 106 public/charter schools. Kennedale High School, which is in Division I, reported 1006 students. The KHS numbers are a little higher than the enrollment number reported for the 2022-24 realignment of 997. As a point of reference, the 2014-16 numbers for Kennedale HS were 978, and the pre-covid number for 2018-2020 was 1022 students at KHS.
La Vega is 2-1 vs Kennedale …
Kennedale and La Vega first agreed to a home-and-away series beginning in the fall of 2022. That year Kennedale travelled to play the Pirates in the season opener. La Vega won 34-7. The Wildcats even the record with a knockout punch in the first round of the UIL playoffs that same season with a 10-7 victory. Kennedale was defeated by Celina later in the area round of the UIL playoffs, 34-28.
In the opener last season, La Vega got revenge on Kennedale for ousting them in the playoffs the year before, but it was a battle. Kennedale went up by 7 in the first quarter. At halftime, the score was tied at 14. Waco took the lead 21-14 in the 3rd. Kennedale did fire off two touchdowns in the 4th but that was matched by two from Waco. and the Pirates went home to Waco with a 35-28 win.
Ranked 8th and 16th in the preseason …
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football has the Pirates ranked 8th this year in Class 4A DII in its preseason poll. MaxPreps has the Pirates at 16th in Class 4A DII.
