The La Villa Cardinals are chasing a sixth straight district title and they have the firepower to get there.

The Cardinals haven't lost a single district game in five years. That streak held up last season under a new head coach and the team is bringing back key offensive players heading into this year.

Quarterback Isaiah Felix is entering his third year as a starter. He threw for 1,120 passing yards and 13 touchdowns last season. Running back Andrew Gonzalez added 1,405 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns.

"The first year as head coach was great. We had great kids and a great staff. The community was supportive and we came out with a district championship," Head Coach Joseph Garcia said. "Our 5 district championship and like I tell everyone in the community and the players and the coaching staff, district championships are a standard here. So we have to keep up that standard but we always come in with the mentality we're chasing the first one."

Felix said the team has bigger goals than just winning the district.

"The expectations are we are obviously going through. We want to go three rounds deep that's the goal this year so we want to make a deep run in the playoffs and obviously the district championship is the standard now," Felix said.

The district is also getting bigger this year. Santa Maria and Kaufer are joining while Bruni is out.

"It's going to be a tough district with these two new teams in the district and Ben Bolt Woodsboro it's going to be a good tough district that we're going to be facing. We do have a tough pre season schedule but that's what we have to do to get ready for our district games," Garcia said.

The Cardinals open the season against Santa Rosa, then face Lyford in Week 2 followed by Falfurrias in Week 3. Their bye week comes early in Week 4.

They close out non-district play against Harlingen MMA and Hidalgo before district begins.

District play runs from Week 7 through Week 11, with matchups against Agua Dulce, Woodsboro, Santa Maria, Ben Bolt and Kaufer.