BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
HIDALGO — The first game of Sharyland High’s great quarterback experiment was a success against Valley View.
Coach Ron Adame named senior quarterback Diego Vela as the Rattlers starter over junior Edgar Longoria entering their district opener versus the Tigers. Both quarterbacks had their fingerprints all over Sharyland High’s 48-6 win on Friday at Valley View ISD Stadium in Hidalgo.
Vela and Longoria split time under center throughout the first half. Vela threw his third touchdown pass of the season to junior wide receiver Ruben Davila with 1:03 left until halftime.
“I didn’t really worry about how the offense would look with two quarterbacks,” Vela said. “Edgar and I complement each other. There isn’t any competition or butting heads. We support each other in whatever we do. We’re just making each other better.”
Longoria was making his first appearance in live game action since Sharyland High’s regular season finale against Rio Grande City in 2016. He suffered a broken upper rib during the Rattlers’ spring practice in May and wasn’t cleared by his doctor to resume football activities until Sept. 9.
Longoria completed his only touchdown pass to Davila and ran in another during the first half.
“It was super exciting,” Longoria said. “During the day, my teammates were asking me if I was nervous, but I was pumped up. I told my coaches that I woke up dancing this morning. That’s how excited I was.”
Valley View (2-2, 0-2) hung with Sharyland High for most of the first half. Down 6-0 in the first quarter, the Valley View offense moved the ball inside Sharyland’s 30-yard line. However, a botched snap by the Tigers was recovered by the Rattlers, ending any hope of finishing the drive with points.
“I felt like we played pretty even with them in the first half,” Valley View coach Eli Esquivel said. “Our defense had a couple mental breakdowns, but after that, we didn’t have another step. You have to give credit to them: they’re a pretty good team. But I’m proud of our kids not giving up. We’re going hard and we’re learning from every game.”
The Tigers suffered two key injuries on the offensive side of the ball. Junior running back Brandon Gonzalez, the district’s fourth-leading rusher coming into Friday’s game, and junior quarterback Simon Fernandez left the field with injuries in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
“By halftime, he (Brandon) was hurt, so we pulled him out,” Esquivel said. “Nothing serious, but when you’re down by so many points, why chance it? Same thing with Simon. It was minor, but we’re going to work on that. As far as serious injuries go, we didn’t have any tonight. All those kids should be back after our bye in two weeks.”
A 42-point win for Sharyland High (2-1, 1-0) was not enough for Adame to overlook areas his team needs to work on.
“As coaches, we’re always looking for that perfect game, which we didn’t quite have tonight,” Adame said. “The score may indicate that, but we need to brush up on a few things in all three phases. We’re going to build on the things we did well tonight, but we’ll correct those things we didn’t do too well. We’re trying to get better.”