MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland High’s Seth Carter knew it was his night when quarterback Lance Madden looked to connect with him with more frequency Friday.
“A lot of defenses don’t want to give us the deep ball because we’re a fast team,” Carter said. “But we kind of found our sweet spot as far as going in the air, and we loved it.”
Carter hauled in a season-high two touchdowns, including a 51-yard strike, to ignite a 29-0 bi-district victory over Edcouch-Elsa at Richard Thompson Stadium.
Carter totaled only two receptions for 65 yards, but he scored on both looks — the latter attempt a 14-yard pass to cap off their seventh straight victory and their second consecutive shutout win.
“There was just a different mentality in the locker room,” wideout James Cole said. “We knew it was game time. We knew we had to step it up.”
Cole was also the recipient of Madden’s long attempts. He caught a 45-yard pass early in the second quarter that gave the Rattlers a 14-0 cushion.
Madden finished the night completing 12 of 24 attempts for 186 yards and three touchdowns.
And just as important, Sharyland (10-1) put forth one of its better defensive efforts of the season, holding the second-best offense in District 32-5A to just 106 yards — well below E-E’s regular-season average of 335.8 yards per contest.
“Our defense played lights out tonight,” Adame said. “It’s a good feeling when you’re playing really good defense. It allows us to take risks on offense. Going for it on fourth-and-short, knowing that the defense has your back, it kind of allows us to take gambles and risk.”
HEAVY LOAD
Edcouch-Elsa quarterback Marco Aguinaga, one of the top rushers and passers in district, shouldered a lot of the offensive load Friday.
During the regular season, he rushed for 12 touchdowns, the second-best mark in district. But he struggled to get much of anything going against Sharyland, picking up 22 yards after 20 rushing attempts while completing 2 of 9 passes for 27 yards. On the year, he connects on 50 percent of his attempts.
When it seemed that the Yellowjackets (6-5) were beginning to build some momentum, penalties set them back. Such was the case in the second quarter, when Aguinaga connected on a 24-yard strike only to go back 10 yards on the very next snap following a holding penalty.
“It’s a Jekyll and Hyde thing that we had this year. We had some highs and some lows,” E-E coach Joe Marichalar said. “And in big games, that stuff will bite you in the behind and it did for us tonight. Us as coaches, we have to do a lot of evaluation.”
Of their 10 offensive sequences, the Yellowjackets were held to five 3-and-outs, including three in the opening half and two more in the fourth quarter. Their strength all year was their rushing game, producing 223.2 yards per contest. On Friday, they were thwarted, coming up with 79 yards.
“Those guys, they play sound defensively,” Marichalar said. “They have athletes on both sides of the ball. Those guys being very athletic, they did their job. We tried to get going but we couldn’t.”
UP NEXT
Next week, Sharyland (10-1) will face Corpus Christi Calallen (7-4), which dominated Somerset 57-14 on Friday. Their Class 6A area round match is set for Texas A&M Kingsville at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
“The main thing is that we’re getting them out of Calallen. We’re getting them out of their element,” Adame said. “It’s closer to them, but so be it. Eventually, you’re going to have to travel in the playoffs. Eventually, you’re going to have to learn how to win on the road.”