Sharyland triumphs over Memorial for historic 5A win

McALLEN — There was something about not having won a District 30-5A championship that weighed heavily on Sharyland on Friday.

Not always at their best, the Rattlers made enough big plays and received a clutch 31-yard field goal to defeat the McAllen Memorial Mustangs 37-28 at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium to clinch at least a share of the league title for the first time as a Class 5A school.

“It feels great,” said Rattlers defensive back Jerry Cavazos, who had two interceptions. “… our goal  was to go undefeated and get the district title. I feel that we achieved that.”

The Rattlers (9-0 overall, 6-0 district) will win the outright district championship with a win over La Joya Palmview next week. At times Friday, there were doubts Sharyland would even get to that point.

“I don’t think we played to our full potential because we kind of played with some pressure,” Sharyland coach Fred Sanchez said. “We made a lot of mistakes. I thought the defense played really good, but there were some penalties that hurt us.”

Memorial got to within 34-28 with 2:55 left in the fourth quarter on a Matthew Kaufmann 16-yard touchdown pass to Ernie Medrano.

The Mustangs attempted an onside kick but that was fielded nicely by Scottie Meyer, who marched the team to the 14-yard line to set up the 31-yard Joey Martinez field goal.

“We made mistakes no doubt about it,” Meyer said. “The penalties hurt. But Memorial is a hell of a team.”

Despite out-gaining Sharyland 369-328 yards on offense, the Mustangs suffered a second consecutive loss and have to beat Donna by 10 points next week for a playoff berth.

“We got to do what we got to do,” Memorial coach  Bill Littleton said. “We just got to go out and play football and see what happens.”

On Friday, the Mustangs saw Bobby Moran step up in a big way for the Rattlers. He caught two receptions — both TDs — for 81 yards. He said he wasn’t even sure the 59-yard TD pass in the second half was intended for him.

“Me and another receiver didn’t know who was going to get it so I decided to jump up and go for it,” Moran said.

Those kinds of big plays have led to what is now a district championship season.

“This is the first district title in 5A,” Sanchez said. “That had been one of my goals anyway.”

Peter Rasmussen covers District 30-5A football for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via e-mail at prasmussen@themonitor.com.