BY GREG SELBER

EDINBURG – It was a night of stunning superlatives, to say the most, an evening of amazing moments that will not soon be forgotten. At the end of this 55-48 marathon, everyone was plumb tuckered out: players, obviously; coaches, for sure; throngs of crazy fans; even the scoreboard operator at Cats Stadium, bound to be getting checked for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as we speak.

It’s been nearly a decade since the Edinburg Bobcats outlasted Economedes 57-55 in a multi-overtime impossibility on this very field. Thursday, the No. 1 team in the Valley for 2012, Sharyland, duplicated the feat in about the same fashion, rallying from two touchdowns down at the half to execute a simply unreal final 24 minutes, toppling the game but hard-luck Jags.

Paced by sweet senior quarterback Tres Barrera and a defense that got off the turf to post a fine second-half effort, the Rattlers rose to 4-0, 2-0 in District 30-5A, by scoring touchdowns on five of six drives after the break. In amassing 491 yards, Sharyland was a shade better than the home side, which rumbled to 450 steps of its own and tied the thriller at 48 with just 54 seconds left.

For the high-octane Rattlers, who decimated a tiring Jag D for 338 yards in the final two periods of play, it was plenty of ticks with which to work. Barrera (20 for 29, 296 yards and four scores, all to the superb Estefan Castillo) completed 4 of 4 in a perfect rendition of the One-Minute Drill, racing up the middle from the 10 to clinch the night with 17 seconds remaining.

To this team that averages 54 points per game, it was another day at the office. For the Jags, with visions of the upset so tantalizingly close at several junctures, it was another of those historically hard-to-swallow losses. But they will be heard from again in 2012, one imagines.

            Barrera, the UT baseball signee who almost did not play this season for the Rattlers, made first-year coach Ron Adame a happy man for coming back out for football. He is accurate and smart with a fine arm and the moxie to pull out the close ones. After having thrown two interceptions in the first half, one for a Pick-Six off a batted pass deep in his own territory, the strong-armed vet was undaunted.

“I didn’t play my best in the first half but I know this team, we’ve done it before,” he said, referencing the comeback. “I knew we had the firepower to score some points and keep scoring…right now, Estefan is my best friend, man, Let me tell you!”

ON YOUR MARKS…

If there is a better runner in the open field than the fleet Castillo, just name him. Waiting…He caught eight balls for 152 yards Thursday, and his two zig-zag scores off quick swing passes, followed by a 50-yard punt return from DB J.C. Valadez (nine tackles and a blocked field goal), installed the visitor at 21-7 in a madcap first period of play.

Econ had tossed in a 64-yard jaunt up the middle from super soph fullback Rey Ramos (203 yards, the Jags bulled for 357 on the ground) to add to the zany beginning, but Sharyland had the defense working big early on. Junior LB Joey Esquivel (15 tackles) and trusty tackling machine Bradley Klein (13), plus DBs Francisco Campos (11) and senior Jon Barraza (11), all made offensive life miserable for the Jags.

But in the second period, the Orange came alive, proving it has, along with Shary, one of the finest offensive groups in the land this season. A roughing-the-punter call gave Econ new life on a drive, and it swept to the 16 before lanky Rattler Dakota Crouch recovered a fumble.

However, from there Barrera’s pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by Jaime Salinas of the Jags, teammate Andy Rodriguez swiping the ball out of the air and dragging tacklers into the end zone for a surprise 8-yard six at 11:50 of the second.

At that point it was 21-14, Rattlers, the Jags feeling their oats. After Andy Duarte and Jesus Guzman each made solid pass defense efforts, Econ got the pill back and converted. Ramos, a stylish straight-up runner who busts the hole with force and has deceptive pad speed, broke off a 40-yarder to set up a 34-yard TD throw by tight end Teo Arreola to quarterback Hugo Reyes-Paz.

Say again?
            Arreola, a massive but lithe of limb sophomore, has a whale of an arm and was the freshman QB last year. He sneaked under center, as quietly as a 240-pound fellow can, and before the Rattlers could adjust, fired a bullet that the speedy Reyes-Paz gathered in for the prize at 8:36. The startling score came a play after Campos of Shary had been able to keep Arreola from hauling in a bomb from Reyes-Paz with a last-second hand in the mix to force an INC.

The Jags kept it up, finally making a stop of the vaunted Rattler attack, and the offense then did its thing, getting 22- and 18-yard pounds from Ramos and a 25-yarder from slippery Tony Yzaguirre to get into range. Bubba Villarreal hammered in from the 1 at 4:05 and that made three in a row for the Orange, a 28-21 score.

Next, defense from the Jags again as soph corner Ricardo Rodriguez stepped in to intercept Barrera and return the ball all the way to the Rattler 21. Just 21 seconds before the half, Villarreal slammed it home from the 1 again, and it was 35-21, Jags, or 28 points in a row for the underdog.

Seemingly about to die on the vine in the face of the initial Sharyland onslaught, this squad had come to life with the vengeance of a long-suffering, now quality program. Only one local media big shot had picked them to upset Sharyland, and right now that lonesome loon was feeling halfway smart for a change. Bands, get wit’ it.

SETTING IT STRAIGHT

Adame, who took over for long-time coach Fred Sanchez this year, is a long-time coach himself, actually an assistant at Sharyland for nearly 20 years. He says he learned a ton from his mentor, is well liked and exceedingly able, and is now getting his time at the top.

“I guess my situation is unique, because I have been here so long and the kids all know me pretty well,” he said before the battle commenced. “This is a very good ball club, and right now we are all playing like a team, no ‘I’ with them. I know this game is going to be a challenge and we are ready for it.”

Ready they were, even though down 35-21, because nobody, repeat, nobody can light up the scoreboard like the Rattlers when they are really clicking. As Barrera said, Sharyland has confidence in its ability to spread the field, make people miss, and pile up the points. The Snakes are also adept at creating mismatches out in space, which is how the second half unfolded. Econ’s outside linebackers and occasionally drop ends were no match for the speedy wideouts in red and white, and Adame’s Army went to town after the intermission.

First they had to get the ball back from the red-hot Jags, accomplished after the ferocious Esquivel made a pair of stops to halt an Econ march. From the Shary 20, it took six snaps to get to within seven points, and Barrera was the fulcrum. Hitting on 5 of 5 tries for 47 yards, he also contributed a 33-yard run, and the march was capped by a 15-yard reception by the elusive Castillo at 4:37. One of the reasons the team is so potent starts up front, where tackle Emmanuel Barbosa is the main man. Econ, like any other Snake foe, did not get much pressure on the passer, and Barrera picked the D apart for 12 of 15 in the final two stanzas.

It was soon like the first quarter all over again, the Jags going nowhere and Shary driving in high gear. Following a huge punt return from Valadez (All-Valley Alert, All-Valley Alert), the guys made it a tie with one snap, a 42-yard catch-and-run from Castillo, who sports nasty jukes and great legs and speed. There went the momentum for the home boys, 35-all at 2:41 of the third.

But this is no ordinary Jag team. After weathering a 0-10 season for Pena’s debut, they figured to be a darkhorse in the race with a ton of returning starters and a ton also of pride in improvement. Reyez-Paz guided the crew downfield as the quarters turned but a blocked field goal stunted the effort.

Shary answered as Shary will, with a 6-play, 80-yard highlight reel culminated with a 12-yard Barrera run at 7:08 of the night. Watching a Rattler drive is like seeing a dolphin slide through the waves, all dexterity and timing. They do divine 7-on-7…with pads on.

Econ was not about to expire now, though, and sprinted to within a point, using a pass-interference penalty to move close until safety Duarte, an occasional receiver with size (6-foot-3) and skills (hoops letterman) snared a short aerial from Reyes-Paz and jetted 49 yards to the house at 4:44.

Here, interesting. Senior kicker Angel Duran beat McAllen Memorial earlier in the season with a 39-yard field goal at 0:19, you recall. But against Edinburg North, he was working with backups at snapper and holder and missed a last-minute extra point in a 21-20 loss. Just like the North game, the Jags called timeout to contemplate a two-point conversion. Just like the North game, they committed a penalty while trying it. Unlike the North game, they decided to go for two again, from the 8, instead of attempting the tying PAT. Regular holder Luis Alvarez is out for the year with a knee injury, so Econ rolled the dice, coming up Snake Eyes (get it?) on an incomplete pass. Now 42-41.

End of story? Not in Nutsville. Not even close.

The unsinkable Rattlers slalomed down the green to enhance their advantage, a 70-yard cruise ending with a 14-yard run from hard-charging back Cesar Valdez (97 yards). But usually sure kicker Jason Hull, who had converted six in a row and also kicked off like a college specialist, pushed the PAT wide left. Now 48-41.

Still a shot for the hearty crew from Edinburg’s East Side, a bunch that thinks it will be in the playoffs if things break right from here on out, despite a 1-2 start in 30-5A. Ramos was the horse again with a 43-yard TD off the inside dive behind a senior-laden offensive line. Less than a minute to go, and this time Duran popped the extra point just fine. Now 48s.

It seemed like overtime, but everyone sensed that if any unit in the Valley could pull off the last-second finish, it was the one about to receive the ball.

Barrera went for 11 to junior Christian Martinez, and 11 more to senior Kody Cerda (four for 49 in the second half). Pinpoint strikes to junior Daniel Morales and Cerda again, against a flat gassed Econ D, and then Barrera did it himself, from the 10.

There, done.

AFTERWORD

Exhausted but pleased, the Rattlers met in the usual postgame place, where Adame reminded them that the madness just subsided was going to be a lesson for all.

“This has to be a wakeup call, men, we have to have it together up here,” he said, pointing to his head. “You knew this team wasn’t going to lie down for you, and I know you may not understand yet, but we needed a game like this.”

The coach suggested that the Shary comeback reflected the character of the kids, and truer words were never uttered.

“We got tested here tonight, we got popped in the mouth pretty good,” he admitted. “But you didn’t give up, and you got right back in there and came back to do some popping of your own in the second half. This should show us: don’t ever give up because you always have a chance to win.”