NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
ALICE — If Sharyland High’s three heart-stopping, final-minute victories against Edinburg North, Sharyland Pioneer and Mission Veterans this season are par for the course, then Friday night’s Class 5A Division II area round game against Alice was nearly a hole-in-one.
The Rattlers and Coyotes battled back and forth for four quarters and three overtimes before Alice pulled out the 42-39 win, ending Sharyland High’s season.
“I can’t say enough about our young men,” Sharyland High coach Ron Adame said. “Nobody really expected much out of this group. We were sleepers. I’d like to think that we’ve gained the respect of our district, the Rio Grande Valley and Alice. This game could have gone either way with a couple of breaks here and there. But you create your own luck.”
Late in the first quarter, Alice quarterback Trey Jaramillo went up the gut for 16 yards and his second touchdown run to put the Coyotes up 13-0 with 3:20 left. The Thanksgiving holiday didn’t deter Coyote fans from filling the Alice Memorial Stadium stands in burnt orange. Alice’s first area round game in four years was beginning to look like a laugher.
“We didn’t panic, because we’ve been down before,” Adame said. “You go back to the Pioneer game, and we were down 21-7. We knew this was going to take the whole four quarters.”
Adame’s words began to play out in real life. Sharyland wrestled away control from Alice in the second and third quarters to turn its 13-0 deficit to a 21-13 advantage. The game was knotted at 21 heading into the final 12 minutes.
On a second-and-6 from the Rattlers’ 38, Sharyland quarterback Edgar Longoria threw an incomplete pass and then took a seat on the grass. Longoria grimaced as he held an area around his left knee.
“It was a hyperextension of my left hamstring,” Longoria said. “I could throw the ball and drop back, but I couldn’t really sprint. Alice is a really tough team, so I would have had to roll out, and I couldn’t do it, because it’d hurt every time I stretched it.”
“When he told me that, I told him I wasn’t going to put him out there anymore,” Adame said.
With senior backup Diego Vela seeing time on the Rattlers’ defense, junior signal caller Oscar Valdez stepped in for Longoria.
“My mentality was to just be ready,” Valdez said. “If they call you up, you have to be ready at all times. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Valdez converted a third-and-6 on a 23-yard completion to senior Blake Klein and ended the drive with a quarterback draw for a 12-yard touchdown to give Sharyland the 28-21 lead with 9:09 left in regulation.
“Oscar’s my wingman,” Longoria said. “And he’s not a backup. He’s a starter. He had good leadership to keep us in the game.”
Sharyland’s defense tightened up again, forcing the Coyotes into a turnover on downs at the Rattlers 30. Sharyland drained the clock down to 1:43 remaining before punting. Alice went 83 yards without any timeouts, scoring on Jaramillo’s 3-yard touchdown run with four seconds remaining to force overtime.
After a scoreless first overtime, Alice faked a field goal attempt, and punter Sean Chapa connected with junior wide receiver Domingo Mendoza for an 18-yard touchdown. The Coyotes added a successful two-point conversion. Valdez returned serve with his second rushing touchdown and a completed two-point pass to Klein to force a third overtime tied at 36.
Sharyland kicker Erwin Von Nacher started the third overtime by nailing a 41-yard field goal to give the Rattlers a 39-36 lead. But Jaramillo would have the final say, scoring his fourth rushing touchdown for the game’s 42-39 final score. The Coyotes (9-3) will participate in the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2012 after finishing the year 7-0 at Alice Memorial Stadium.
Klein — one of the few seniors on the Rattlers (9-3) roster — ran for 108 yards and caught for 100 and a touchdown in his final game.
“What a game to end it on, at least. If it was going to end tonight, it should end like that,” Klein said. “Freshman year, I started out, and I honestly didn’t think I would be anything. I broke my shoulder that year. I got moved up my sophomore year, and that’s when it all changed.”