No. 2 Sharyland cruises past struggling La Joya High

MISSION — The Sharyland Rattlers made quick work of the La Joya Coyotes on Friday night steamrolling through the Coyotes for a 63-7 victory at Rattler Stadium to remain one of only four unbeaten squads in the Rio Grande Valley.

Pre-game chatter amongst Sharyland (8-0, 5-0) coaches mentioned talk of a no-nonsense “home before supper” attitude for Friday night’s game and the players on the field seemed to echo that sentiment, playing a mostly mistake-free football game that took just over two hours to play.

“Well if that’s exemplifies what we just did tonight,” Sharyland coach Fred Sanchez said. “I thought our defense played very, very well and when you play good defense it gives your offense a chance to do things.”

La Joya drops down to a 1-7, overall record and 0-5 in District 30-5A and is likely out of playoff contention even if it wins the rest of its games.

Every time the Rattlers defense presented an opportunity, the offense took advantage, racking up 28 points on four La Joya fumbles with an average drive length of 38.7 yards.

Even when it looked as if the Coyotes might make a contest out of the affair after a 62-yard scurry by Lee Ramirez that brought the Coyotes to a 14-7 deficit with 3:42 left in the first half, the Rattlers calmly regained possession, marched down the field and scored on a one-yard Scottie Meyer run that was preceded by a 38-yard connection between Meyer and Chris Zuniga.

A forced fumble on the ensuing possession by the Sharyland defense set up the Rattlers with first and 10 at the La Joya 11 that was inevitably turned into a scoring possession after a one-yard run by J.R. Rivera; making the tally 28-7 at the end of the first half.

“We played fairly well the first half,” La Joya coach Leonel Casas said. “But we came out and did not play well at all the second half. We’ve been trying to work hard all year and trying to fix things.”

Meyer, who is turning in an all-district season, led the Rattlers with 184 passing yards and two touchdowns that were complemented with 92 yards through the ground and two rushing scores.

The Sharyland defense held La Joya to 171 yards of total offense but subtract Ramirez’s long touchdown run and it drops the total offensive production to just 109.

“We came together and we did what we wanted to do,” Meyer said. “We didn’t want to slow down at all because if we did it was not a good sign. You let them know to keep their heads up and we’re playing for fun. It’s not about a grudge or anything.”