BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Despite their best efforts, the Sharyland High Rattlers appear to be the daredevils of Valley football.
Dating back to Week 2 of the 2017 season, Sharyland High has been in the middle of several heart-stopping, last-second contests. Wins versus Edinburg North, Sharyland Pioneer and Mission Veterans and a loss versus Alice in the playoffs heightened players’ emotions and brought Rattlers fans to their knees.
Add Sharyland High’s season opener against Brownsville Pace to the list. After trailing 10-0 at halftime, the Rattlers scored 17 unanswered points, only for the Vikings to tie and force overtime.
In the extra period, Brownsville Pace missed a field goal attempt, and Sharyland High senior quarterback/kicker Oscar Valdez nailed a 34-yard field goal to seal the Rattlers’ 20-17 victory on Friday at Richard Thompson Stadium.
When the Rattlers faced a fourth down in overtime from the Vikings’ 17-yard line, Valdez wasn’t so sure about the kick attempt he knew he had to make.
“I practice field goals in pressure situations during practice, but there’s nothing like a real game with real pressure coming at you full speed,” Valdez said. “I also doubted myself going into the kick, because in warmups, I don’t think I made a single one from the right hash between the 20- and 30-yard line. The snap was kind of high, but Ruben (Davila) did a good job of bringing it down, and I kicked it thinking, ‘Here goes nothing.’ It felt good off my foot, and I’m glad it went in.”
“It seems strange,” Sharyland High coach Ron Adame said. “The last game we had (versus Alice) went three overtimes, and now we went single overtime tonight. It wasn’t a very pretty win, to say the least, but our boys showed resiliency to come back from a 10-0 deficit, put a better second half together and find a way. We felt good going into overtime. I’m glad that our boys were able to come away with a win tonight.”
The Sharyland High (1-0) offense struggled mightily in the first half. Senior quarterback Edgar Longoria threw three interceptions in nine games as a junior, but the Vikings defense forced him into two picks in the first quarter on Friday.
Adame subbed Longoria out in the second quarter for backup Valdez.
“I was playing like my head was cut off,” Longoria said. “I was throwing it up there and making the wrong decisions. The performance in the first half was not pretty. That’s on me, and I need to fix that. The defense was great, but the fact that I made those mistakes made things a lot worse.”
Adame alternated between Longoria and Valdez in the second half, but Longoria left the locker room after halftime refreshed and renewed.
“We knew we were playing terrible, and a few words turned us back up again,” Longoria said. “We needed to get back in this game. Sooner or later, we started putting up some points.”
Longoria found fellow senior Ruben Davila on a 12-yard touchdown throw to tie the game at 10 in the third quarter and ran for another score to give the Rattlers their first lead of the night.
Pace (0-1) senior running back Brandon Zapata’s rushing touchdown and an extra point tied the game back up at 17 and forced overtime.
Sharyland High will head on the road to face McAllen Memorial in Week 2. The Mustangs lost their season opener to Brownsville Hanna on Thursday night.