BY GREG SELBER
EDINBURG – One of them has now come excruciatingly close two weeks in a row, with a few false moves at inopportune times spelling the difference between unbeaten and winless. The other has won three in a row, and the scary part is, it hasn’t really put it all together yet.
That was the story here Friday night, as Sharyland (3-0) outlasted Edinburg (0-2), coming from a 14-0 deficit to score 19 in a row and hold off the Bobcats on a last-minute drive downfield at Cats Stadium.
Edinburg was pinned at its 1 after a superb 50-yard, fourth-period punt by Scott Meyer, but in the waning minutes a strong offensive line surge allowed the ‘Cats to pound upfield. Also key was a pass interference call, and soon, Edinburg had it at the Sharyland 45. All of a sudden, the Rattlers were reeling.
But EHS QB Isaac Escobar missed Manny Menchaca badly on a fade right and on fourth down Shary sent everyone but the tube player after Escobar on a breakout blitz, hurrying him into an incomplete that ended the threat with a minute to go.
It was a narrow escape for the Rattlers, one of the teams favored to contend for the District 30-5A crown in 2009. After a surprising 10-win season a year ago, 10th-year coach Fred Sanchez, who has taken his program to the playoffs six times with five wins, got No. 3 for the year. He was relieved.
“EHS came out to play the first half and we didn’t,” said Sanchez, whose team turned two turnovers early in the third quarter into 13 points after being down by eight at the break. “We scored in the second and it’s a good thing, because it kept us in the game. I told my kids at the half, what other opportunity would you want than to be in this situation, to have to show what you have? I said, ‘What are you gonna do?’ We had to refocus and get after it, and we did.”
The speedy Rattlers, winners over Brownsville Hanna and Edinburg North coming in, initially got played off their feet by a Bobcat team that’d led McAllen High late before allowing an 80-yard touchdown pass last week.
Shary quarterback Bobby Moran, who contributed a touchdown pass in the first half and a 17-yard, fourth-down TD scamper in the comeback third, said that the Rattlers had to overcome some mistakes to win. Some by him.
“It was a slow start for us, no doubt,” admitted the junior passer, who completed 15 of 28 tries for 118 yards. “And that is mainly on me. The routes were there, I just wasn’t getting them the ball early on. We didn’t take them lightly, we just killed ourselves in the first half and I take the blame. But we decided to get it going after halftime…we had to, or it was not going to end up good.”
The key to this close one was turnovers, as Edinburg coughed it up four times, to one for the Rattlers. The Bobcats suffered through a brutal stretch after the intermission that saw Coach Joey Caceres’ club give it away three consecutive possessions. After such a heady beginning, the ‘Cats died on the vine.
“It all came down to who was going to make the mistakes, and we made them,” said a dejected Caceres afterward. “No excuses on that. But we held a championship team to 19 points and I am proud of our kids for the effort they gave.”
SURPRISE, SURPRISE
The atmosphere was alive Friday night, with the Bobcats celebrating Parents Night and the weather cooperating. The football gods have been beneficent this week, as on both Thursday and Friday, the much-needed Valley arrived in the afternoon, and not in the evening. So it was that the night was perfect for high school football, and it was Edinburg who jumped at the chance to get a solid start.
The Bobcats bent a bit in the early going, allowing Sharyland to cross midfield four times, but each time, someone was there in red and blue to make a play. On the first Rattler try, it was big tackle Bryan Garza, with help from junior Michael Padilla, breaking in to get Moran for a 4-yard loss on 3rd and 2 from the ‘Cat 38.
Next, it was sophomore Sal Martinez coming up with an interception of Moran to halt the second march.
At that point, Sharyland got a chance to meet “The Magician,” Steve Trevino, and the introduction was a rude one. After Martinez’ pick, the ‘Cats worked to a first down at their own 46, as a risky gamble on 4th and 1 produced a crunching run from junior fullback Freddy Guajardo, who would later be carted off with an injury. This showed that Edinburg, so near the winner’s circle last week in a game it probably should have secured over McHigh, meant business in Week 2.
Shortly thereafter, the strong-armed Escobar, who sat out the second half last week with a hip contusion, sent one flying high into the night, with a pretty ball-on-hip bootleg roll after a play fake. His sailing ball found Trevino all alone down the left side, and 51 yards of sprint later, it was 7-0, ‘Cats at 3:06.
A packed home side went berserk, while Sharyland was on its hind legs.
Spindly but tough safety Aaron Sifuentes (eight stops) then saved a touchdown on the ensuing kick, grabbing Meyer at midfield after it had looked like the sprinter was headed to the house. Linebacker David Guevera, who led all tacklers in the game with 14 hits, then forced another Shary punt with a textbook pass-defense play.
Taking over at their own 6 (Meyer is an excellent placement punter) the Bobcats hit for 21 to Trevino and then the massive line took over. Senior Eli Eyzaguirre and junior Joey Galvan enjoyed particularly successful nights against the smaller Shary front, and despite the loss of star runner Rolando Palacios to a knee injury last week, the ‘Cats got some creditable fill-in work by committee.
Behind crisp drive-blocking, EHS would pick up 173 rushing yards Friday, with burly soph Deandric Maxwell (who reminds one of 1990s ‘Cat standout Corbin Epps) churning for 75 and senior Jaime Sauceda 84. Sauceda popped for 9 and Maxwell 8 to set Caceres’ crew up at midfield, and then it was Trevino Time again.
Against double coverage down the middle of the green, the senior star somehow made the right adjustment at the last second, slicing between the defenders to receive his second bomb of the half, all the way down to the 4. Guajardo barged in from there, and to the surprise of most, it was 14-0 EHS, at 10:57 of the second.
Garza and LB Ciro Reyna (11 tackles) combined to sack Moran on the next Sharyland possession, a trap set up by instantaneous penetration from the mauling Guevera, who continues to play at a superb level in 2009.
After Meyer’s third punt, Edinburg reached the Shary 46 before expiring as senior DL Kendall Guerra and senior LB Augustin Ordorica (the latter had nine tackles, with teammate Willie Rodriguez also registering nine) came up with timely licks.
But led by Guevara, the EHS D was giving nothing, and Meyer punted again.
Edinburg had it going all the way until late in the second, when Trevino made the rare mistake, fumbling a catch at the Rattler 36, senior DB Marcus Perez recovering the first of two loose balls for him on the night.
Energized by the takeaway, and realizing that another EHS TD might have put them to sleep, the Rattlers came to life. Meyer grabbed a 15-yard gain from Moran on 3rd and 10, and Chris Zuniga, like Trevino one of the Valley’s elite pass-catchers, got free for a 28-yard gainer.
The versatile Ricky Mata, held in check to this point, made an incredible 15-yard run through four tacklers to give his mates a 1st and goal at the six. Then, Moran found a diving Kyle Vale for a touchdown completion that put the score at 14-6 with 1:25 to go before the break.
Meyer, who nabbed seven passes on the night, also made three tackles on defense in the secondary. He said that though the Rattlers didn’t play like they are capable of playing in the first half, they never doubted the eventual outcome.
“We knew we could have done better, we just weren’t executing our base plays,” he explained. “Edinburg is not an underdog, they’re a good football team. We expected more out of ourselves and in the second half, we got some good defense and we started to make some plays.”
That much is obvious, because after only two series, Sharyland was in the lead. Menchaca fumbled after a short reception with Perez making the recovery on the second snap of the half. Moran ran 9 on 3rd and 10 and then scored on his 17-yarder.
Soon after, Jerry Cavazos got the next turnover, getting a gift in midair after a big pop on Maxwell by Ordorica, eventually leading to a 6-yard Mata TD run.
That drive was the turning point, as originally, Edinburg had held the enemy to a 22-yard field goal from fine kicker Joey Martinez, as EHS’s Reyna came up with two solid sticks. But the Bobcats barreled into Martinez on the play, giving the Rattlers new life on a personal-foul call that put the ball at the 3. A motion penalty in a relatively clean game set the visitor back, but Mata found the end zone from the 6 at 1:53, and though Rogelio Ortiz defensed the two-point try with a killer pass rush, the 19-14 score would hold up for the duration.
It just got worse for Edinburg, after Shary’s subsequent pooch kickoff was fumbled away to the Rattlers at the 37; it was a masterful call from the Rattler bench. But Shary ended up missing a 41-yard field goal as the fourth period began, keeping it a 5-point bulge. The Rattlers gained a pedestrian total of 246 yards to 307 for Edinburg but got the takeaways they required to be able to win.
The teams exchanged punts in a stalemate of a last frame, and Edinburg made that last desperate march, looking all the while like a team that was going to come from behind. But in the end, it did not, though Caceres was defiant in the face of a second heartbreaking loss in two weeks.
“I know there is no quit in this team, we are a good ball club and we have to keep in mind that district is coming fast,” said the 3rd-year coach, whose team looks to a road match at Weslaco next Friday while the Rattlers gird for 30-5A play; they play McAllen Rowe Sept. 26, heading now into the bye week undefeated and looking strong.
“We know these games don’t count in the district standings,” Caceres added. “We just have to pull together right now. We are still going to be a force in the race for the playoffs.”
 |
 |
