HARLINGEN — Both teams saw their ups and downs on offense and turned in solid defensive efforts, but it was the Sharyland Rattlers who came out on top of the Harlingen Cardinals 10-6 in Friday night’s scrimmage at Boggus Stadium.
Each team forced turnovers and had drives stall on offense, but despite just having the one scrimmage, the Cardinals and Rattlers felt they were able to get a good idea where their teams stand heading into the regular season.
“We’ve been striking each other for the last two weeks, so it’s cool to go against an opponent,” Harlingen head coach Manny Gomez said. “Sharyland and that coaching staff do a good job. That’s why we scrimmage each other, to bring out the best in one another.”
The Rattlers and head coach Ron Adame will also go back and build off Friday’s exhibition and feel that it wasn’t about who was ahead in points.
“We’ve been scrimmaging Harlingen for the last six years and there’s a reason that we chose each other,” Adame said. “We do it to elevate our game and gauge where we’re at against a high-caliber team like Harlingen; this year was no different.”
The Cardinals flexed their defensive muscles literally from the start as Harlingen defensive lineman Edwin Gasca recovered a Sharyland fumble.
Harlingen consistently put pressure on the Rattlers offense, which led to an interception from Laraun Ambroz three series later and a Brandon Flores fumble recovery in the second half.
“We showed our youth at times throughout the scrimmage, but there are certain areas on film that I think we need to get better at,” Adame said. “We worked on our quick game, but Harlingen did a good job covering our screens, and that’s a tribute to Harlingen’s program. We just had inconsistency moving the chains.”
The mobile quarterbacks for the Rattlers had success evading the Harlingen rush, but Gomez welcomed it with their Week 2 opponent San Antonio Reagan boasting a similar look.
Harlingen’s defense gave up a 45-yard touchdown pass and a late 30-yard field goal all in the final period, but as solid as its defense looked, its offense struggled to finish long drives.
Hiccups at quarterback for Harlingen were due to the Sharyland rush, who forced an interception and two fumbles.
Still, Gomez says he hasn’t revealed his whole hand just yet as his team irons out the basics of their offense.
“Our quarterbacks are still young. There are certain things we didn’t want to show that they’re good at. Right now we’re working on the bread and butter kind of stuff,” Gomez said. “You want to eventually add to it, but we also know our opponents will get this scrimmage, so we want to show as little as possible.
“Still, we have to protect the ball. Ball security is something that gets teams beat every Friday night.”
Harlingen’s only scoring came on field goals of 31 and 40 yards.
Sharyland will face McAllen Memorial on the road in Week 1, while the Cards will not kick off their regular season until Week 2 against San Antonio Reagan at Boggus Stadium.