By Andrew Crum, Staff Writer
Rivera and Sharyland High struggled on offense early on.
The Rattlers’ special teams changed the momentum after they returned back-to-back punt returns for touchdowns to take a 14-0 first quarter- lead and used that shift to carry them to a 28-7 victory over the Raiders on Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Rivera finally broke through on a 51-yard strike from quarterback Danny Elizondo to Sammy Orive for a touchdown during the third quarter, but the Sharyland High defense was even better in recording a safety and returning an interception for a touchdown.
“We certainly didn’t play up to our standard offensively. Defense- and special teams-wise, I’m proud of our boys,” Sharyland High coach Ron Adame said. “Sometimes you’re going to have nights like that. It was one of those nights we weren’t on (offensively). Sometimes you’ll have those.”
The Rattlers got on the board midway through the first quarter when Sean Landez took a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and Manny Campos followed suit after another Raiders punt for a 68-yard return for another score.
After Sharyland High pinned the Raiders at their own 2-yard line following a punt, the Rattlers‘ defense turned up the pressure. Rudy Tornero caught Elizondo in the end zone for the safety and later Abraham Chan kicked a 45-yard field goal to give the Rattlers a 19-0 lead at the half.
The Raiders seemed to make the proper adjustments as Elizondo hit Orive for a touchdown, but the offense continued to stall in the second half.
Rivera was without starting running back Jair Guevara and fullback Mario Mendez due to injuries suffered in Week 2. It certainly showed as the Raiders rushed for just 41 yards after averaging 150 yards during the past two games. Without much of a rushing attack, Elizondo felt the pressure. The senior quarterback completed 18 of 30 passes for 190 yards but threw two interceptions.
“That makes a lot of difference,” Rivera coach Tom Chavez said. “We had some backups in there, they did a good job, but they’re backups.”
The momentum shifted right back toward the Rattlers.
After a Sharyland High punt, Elizondo was intercepted by Landez, who returned it 11 yards to the end zone for a touchdown as the Rattlers took a 25-7 lead.
“(Landez) contributed in many areas for us, but that’s Sean for us, that’s something we’re used to seeing,” Adame said. “When the spark needs to be added to the game, he usually adds that spark.”
Chan added a 29-yard field goal late in the fourth for Sharyland High.
Despite a 0-3 start, Chavez was upbeat. He felt his team played well in all three non-district games.
“It was a win-win situation for us, even though we lost a game, our guys played hard and stuck with them,” he said. “The last three games were against possible playoff teams and that’s just going to make us better. We have a lot of confidence, we felt like we played real well.
“We came out relatively healthy, we’ll be ready for district soon.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.