MISSION — Sharyland High senior Tennessee Cano remembers how last season ended. After a 21-7 loss to PSJA Southwest during a play-in game Dec. 5, the Rattlers walked off the field with their streak of 12 consecutive playoff berths snapped.
“After that game, I was out here making sure all my seniors were good,” Cano said. “Personally, I felt like I let them down. I made sure I looked at that scoreboard long and hard. It affects me still to this day.”
The loss left a bitter taste in Cano’s and the Rattlers’ mouths. Still, the Rattlers spent little time dwelling on the past, getting back to work one week later.
“At the end of the day, the circumstances led to us losing,” Rattlers left tackle Thomas Ehrenstein said. “We went with that sour loss into the offseason, with a mentality to come back and get better than we were.”
The Rattlers enter the season led by first-year head coach Craig Krell, who spent seven seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator and last season as assistant head coach.
Krell has instilled a “state-or-bust” mentality in his team. For Krell, the mindset isn’t a guarantee of a state title, rather about striving for the best.
“To me, we don’t doubt ourselves,” he said. “We’re going to go out on the field and put our best product out there, win or lose. We don’t call it losing, most of the time when we talk about it, we call it learning. Our kids and our coaches are going to give everything they’ve got.”
The team has bought into the new mantra, Cano said, all rallying behind their new head coach.
“We have that state championship mentality. We’re on board with it. We’re going to go out there, perform and I think we’ll be one of the best teams in Texas.”
Senior quarterback Orly Lopez will command the Rattlers’ offense, returning to the field after spending the past two seasons rehabbing a broken fibula.
He’ll have a plethora of weapons at the skill positions, including a pair of returning letterman in receivers Ricky Vasquez and Diego Zavala. The duo will step into starting roles after combining for 165 yards and one touchdown on 20 catches last season.
Junior fullback Alan Guerrero will take over as the primary ball carrier, replacing last year’s starter Rollie Saenz, who had 622 all-purpose yards in five outings.
Cano, a two-year starter, will lead the defense, with senior Javier Treviño joining him in the linebacking corps, where he had 46 tackles and five tackles for loss last season.
Senior Luis Villarreal will lead the defensive front after posting 30 tackles, four tackles for loss, and two sacks last season, while playmaking twins Alan and Alek Gonzalez return to defend the back end, forcing a combined three turnovers last year.
“I love our defense,” Cano said. “Our D-line is full of dogs. I’m very excited to be back with them. The two twins out there, they’re beasts. I love what they do. They bring energy. We’re just full of goons out there and we’re ready to hit.”
The Rattlers turned the page on last season’s unfortunate ending Aug. 2, kicking off the 2021 campaign with their first official practice.
Led by Krell and several key veterans, the Rattlers are determined on returning to the postseason and beginning a new streak, using the pressure and memory of last season as fuel.
“One of our former quarterbacks once told me, ‘Without pressure there is no diamonds,’” Lopez said. “So, the pressure doesn’t really bother us. We’re just ready to go show people what we got. We all felt down and sad after the loss, but after that week, we went back to work. It really motivated us and we’re ready to go.”
Sharyland High opens its season with a pair of non-district contests, hosting Brownsville Pace on Aug. 27 at Richard Thompson Stadium in Mission. The Rattlers wrap up their non-district slate on the road, taking on Brownsville Hanna on Sept. 4, before kicking off their District 16-5A DII season Sept. 10 against Edcouch-Elsa at Richard Thompson Stadium.