In reality, Thursday night’s season finale between the McHi Bulldogs and the Sharyland Rattlers was merely a tune-up game for next week’s bi-district matchups. After all, the Bulldogs are solidified as the second seeded DII representative while the Rattlers will be the top seed for DI. However, there were a couple things learned from Shary’s 38-21 win.

First, the Rattlers can withstand a comeback. Fred Sanchez’s squad led 28-7 after three quarters but the Bulldogs (6-4, 4-3) made rallied with two quick touchdowns minutes into the fourth quarter. Despite giving up some big plays—including an onside kick after the first touchdown—the Rattlers smoothly responded with ten points behind the leadership of Tres Barrera to seal the win.

Second, Sharyland (9-1, 6-1) might be able to withstand a comeback but it will need to learn the knockout punch if it wants to make a decent playoff run in the next couple weeks. The Rattlers started the game off slow, allowing McHi to move the ball easily on its first two drives. Though the received the early wakeup call, Shary seemed to dose off in the third quarter and early in the fourth when they fumbled twice, gave up an onside and got burned for two deep touchdown passes.

Read more: Shary takes down upset-minded McHi

For the second year in a row, the Palmview Lobos’ playoff hopes have been dashed after a promising start. The Lobos fell big to McHi, 31-17.

Manny Flores’ team started district off with high hopes after they won their first two games over Mission and rival La Joya. The two wins showed a dual-quarterback offense and talented receivers. However, as in times past, Palmview struggled to play with the district’s powerhouses. The Lobos have lost four straight since their win over La Joya, only one of which was within ten points.

The final game for the red and black will be next Friday verses the Memorial Mustangs. McAllen Memorial will be looking to complete an undefeated run in district to obtain sole ownership of the 30-5A championship. On Friday the team took down the Donna Redskins.

Read more: Palmview’s playoff hopes lost

This Friday, when the Palmview Lobos take the field on their home turf against McHi (5-3), the key will be consistency. After an up and down season that began with two impressive wins against Rio Grande City and Brownsville Porter but more recently has seen the Lobos drop three in a row, Palmview (4-4) find themselves still with an outside shot at making the playoffs.

The Lobos’ recent woes may be misleading. Two of their last three games and subsequent losses have come against two of the more powerful teams in the area, Sharyland and Donna, both of whom began the season scorching hot and undefeated through their first four games.

Read more: Palmview looks to keep playoff hopes alive

Well it was close for at least a quarter. The Sharyland Rattlers entered Tom Landry Stadium last night, coming off it first district loss in three seasons. Apparently, a date with a struggling Mission squad was all that was needed as the Rattlers crushed their cross-town rivals, 52-23.

Mission came out competing in the first quarter, trading punches with the Rattlers. Fred Sanchez’s team fell behind 10-7 just before the first quarter ended and then 45 unanswered points. Nearly every Rattler player got in the game and the team used four different quarterbacks.

Next week, Sharyland hosts a 2-6 La Joya team. In the midst of that game, the Rattlers will be hoping for Donna Redskin upset over Memorial as Shary still has a chance of at least a co-district title.

Read more: Sharyland rebounds, crushes Eagles

“Anytime you line up, you line up to win regardless of what the records are. You have to believe that on any given Friday you can beat the other team.”

If Mission Head Coach Mario Peña has anything to say about this weekend, this is the attitude his beleaguered team will be taking on to the field as his Eagles (2-5, 0-4) face another seemingly insurmountable challenge when they take on a Sharyland team (6-1, 3-1) that will no doubt be looking to vent a little bit after getting their first taste of defeat at the hands of McAllen Memorial last week.

“Ultimately, our kids have shown a lot of class and a lot of team spirit because we’ve been banged up,” said Peña. “They’re playing hard and they’re playing hard until the very end.”

The Eagles did just that last week. After going down 10-0 to La Joya in the first quarter, the Eagles responded by outscoring the Coyotes in the next three quarters. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as La Joya did just enough in the fourth quarter to clip the Eagles 29-21.

Read more: Eagles continue to fight through tough season

Since 2009, District 30-5A has belonged to no one but Sharyland. In that two year span the Rattlers never lost a district game. Not one.

Well, that streak came to an end Friday night as the visiting Memorial Mustangs came in, built a quick and strong lead before withholding the Rattler comeback, winning 28-14 in front of a packed Rattler Stadium.

Read more: Mustangs take down Sharyland