MISSION — The ninth edition of the Snakeskin Classic rivalry game between Sharyland High and Sharyland Pioneer is setting up to be a display of offensive firepower as District 16-5A DII championship contenders meet with the title and bragging rights on the line.
The RGVSports.com Game of the Week featuring the Diamondbacks (6-2, 3-0) and Rattlers (4-4, 3-0) is slated for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Friday at Richard Thompson Stadium in Mission.
Sharyland High owns a 5-3 advantage in head-to-head matchups betweent the two rivals, including a 38-10 win last year.
“It’s always an important game. It’s always one that they want to win and one that we want to win. We know where it is on the calendar,” Sharyland High head coach Craig Krell said. “This year, it was late on the calendar. Being in a situation where we’re both 3-0 and the winner is going to be district champion and for sure the No. 1 seed, that’s added to it.”
| Sharyland High defensive player Gabriel Guajardo (32) attempts to stop Sharyland Pioneer ball carrier Cipriano Martinez ((81) during a play in the Snakeskin Classic at Richard Thompson Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, in Mission. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) |
Sharyland High has been playing its best ball since starting district play in Week 7. The Rattlers have strung together three straight wins and put themselves in the exact spot they hoped they’d be at the start of the season — with a chance to win a second-straight district title.
“Since last week, we knew, ‘OK, now we’re 3-0. This game, whoever wins gets a gold ball,’” senior and four-year letterman Alek Gonzalez said. “We have a varsity group chat with the guys talking about how special this is to us seniors and to the whole team.”
The Rattlers’ offense has seen an uptick in production with all of its skill players healthy for the first time this season. Alek Gonzalez has posted 475 rushing yards, 378 receiving yards and eight total touchdowns. His twin brother, Alan Gonzalez, returned to action in Week 9 after missing the first half of the year due to injury. Combined with running back Alan Guerrero in the backfield, the No. 7 leading rusher in the RGV with 1,063 yards and 11 touchdowns, who also wears No. 7, it’s difficult for defenses to key in on just one player.
Quarterback Bo Krell leads the charge and feels confident the Rattlers can hurt opposing defenses no matter which weapon the ball goes to on any given play.
“I think having the twins back and No. 7 in the backfield, as a quarterback, it makes you feel a little more comfortable knowing that those guys will always do something to make my job a little bit easier,” the junior quarterback Krell said.
Krell, who also credited the Rattlers’ O-line, has thrown for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Two of those touchdowns were caught by Alan Gonzalez in a 47-21 win over Mission Veterans last week in Gonzalez’s return from injury. He dropped 112 receiving yards and two touchdown catches, both game-highs.
| Sharyland High’s Alan Gonzalez (1) carries the ball against Edcouch-Elsa in a District 16-5A DII game at Richard Thompson Stadium on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, in Mission. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) |
“I missed being on the field. I knew that when I came back, it was going to be something special,” he said. “I had multiple talks where I just sat here with Coach Krell and we had our deep talks and he’s the one that helped me get through it and know that once I came back, things were going to be special, and it really was. I have never felt so emotional about a game before.”
Around this time last year, Sharyland Pioneer football was competing for a playoff spot under first-year head coach Eddie Galindo. This year, the Diamondbacks are 3-0 in 16-5A DII, the No. 7-ranked team in the RGVSports.com Class 5A-6A poll and competing for a district championship Friday night.
“It’s just us sticking to the process and not worrying about down the road. We’ve taken it one week at a time and these guys have been grinding, working hard, playing for each other and playing as a team,” Galindo said. “We built some really good chemistry and kids that want to play for each other and put the team ahead of themselves, and I think that’s helped us out tremendously.”
Sharyland Pioneer’s aerial attack has made significant strides from last season with the play of quarterback Julian Valdez and an equal amount of offensive weapons to throw to.
Valdez leads the Rio Grande Valley in passing yards with 2,184 and 22 touchdowns. He’s completed 155-of-230 passes for a 67.4 completion percentage with just two interceptions, while also running for 606 yards and eight touchdowns.
Sharyland Pioneer receivers make up one-third of the top 12 leaders in receiving yardage across the RGV.
Senior Joseph Graham Jr.’s 771 receiving yards rank No. 2 in the Valley. He’s also caught eight touchdowns and ran for four scores on the ground. Antonio Carrizales (486 yards, seven touchdowns), Leo Espinoza Jr. (450 yards, six touchdowns) and Josh Cuellar (441 yards, two touchdowns) are all within 45 yards of each other and rank No. 8, 11 and 12, respectively, among Valley pass-catchers.
| Sharyland Pioneer’s Joseph Graham Jr., (2) scores a touchdown on Mission Veteran’s Alexis Anguiano (10) during the first half of a high school football game at Richard Thompson Stadium Friday Oct. 07, 2022 in Sharyland, Texas (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor | [email protected]) Delcia Lopez |
“I have a lot of confidence in our offense. We have a lot of leaders and people who can make plays,” Graham said. “It’s not just one person, it’s everybody. It really improved from last year. We built that chemistry over the summer and all season and it’s starting to show.”
Dating back to 2016, the Diamondbacks and Rattlers have combined to win six district championships. The Rattlers were tri-champs in 2017, outright champions in 2018 and tri-champs again in 2021. The Diamondbacks were co-champs in 2016 and back-to-back outright champions in 2019 and 2020.
The District 16-5A DII title will stay in Sharyland ISD no matter the winner Friday night.
“We’ve been working for this one play at a time,” Carrizales said. “No matter if we win or lose, we just got to go out there and play to the best of our ability.”