Patriots, Rattlers and Coyotes out to remain perfect in district play
With District 31-5A teams already in their third week of district play, week 5 of Valley High School football marked the first week of district play for District 30-6A teams. Unfortunately, only one of the four Big 7 6A teams, the La Joya Coyotes, emerged victorious from last week’s games while two of the three 5A teams, Veterans Memorial Patriots and Sharyland Rattlers, did the same.
With the 3-0 Patriots (4-1 overall) having hosted the 1-1 Sharyland Pioneer Diamondbacks (2-2 overall) in 31-5A action last night, here’s a look at tonight’s foursome of games involving Big 7 teams.
Roma Gladiators at Sharyland High Rattlers
On paper, tonight’s matchup between the 0-3 Roma Gladiators (2-3 overall) and the 2-0 Sharyland Rattlers (3-1 overall) might not look like much of a matchup at all.
However it was just last year that the Gladiators handed the Rattlers an 18-7 Week 8 loss and went on to defeat Pioneer and Valley View to earn a three-way share of second place and their second playoff berth in a row.
Coming off back-to-back-to-back losses to Laredo Nixon, Veterans Memorial and Rio Grande City, the Gladiators are in a must-win situation against the Rattlers tonight if they want to keep their playoff aspirations alive. On the other hand, the Rattlers are on a roll having won three in row, against Edinburg North, Valley View and Laredo Martin, after their Week 1 loss to a tough Weslaco East team.
McAllen Memorial Mustangs at Mission Eagles
Having scored only seven points total over their past two games, the 0-1 Mission Eagles (1-4 overall) are going up against a 1-0 McAllen Memorial team (3-2 overall) that put 70 points on the scoreboard just last week against the Palmview Lobos. While last week’s 21-0 loss at the hands of the La Joya Coyotes was closer than the final score indicated, the fact that the Eagles failed to put a single point on the scoreboard throughout the 48 minutes of play has to be a concern to first year Eagles’ head coach Koy Detmer and his staff.
Judging by the impressive offensive display that Memorial put on the Lobos last week, the Eagles are going to have to find the endzone at Tom Landry Stadium early and often tonight if Detmer is going to chalk up the first district win of his head coaching career against the Mustangs.
Juarez-Lincoln Huskies at Palmview Lobos
In the first head-to-head matchup between La Joya schools’ teams of the 2016 season, the 0-1 Palmview Lobos (1-4 overall) will be hosting the 0-1 Juarez-Lincoln Huskies (2-3 overall) tonight at La Joya ISD Stadium. With the Lobos having been embarrassed by the McAllen Memorial Mustangs by a score of 70-28 last week and the Huskies having lost a 17-14 nail-biter to Nikki Rowe, neither team will want to drop to 0-2 in District 30-6A play with a loss tonight.
And with both teams coming off playoff seasons, the Huskies for the first time in school history and the Lobos for the second, this rivalry game is as much of a must-win for both teams as there can be at this point in the season.
La Joya Coyotes at McAllen Bulldogs
Fresh off their 21-0 District 30-6A opening win against the Mission Eagles, the 1-0 La Joya Coyotes (2-3 overall) will be traveling to McAllen’s Veterans Memorial Stadium tonight to play the 0-0 McAllen High Bulldogs (1-3 overall).
Against the Eagles, La Joya junior quarterback Irving Garcia completed three of four passes for 122 yards and one touchdown. That resulted in a passer rating of 156.3, out of a possible perfect rating of 158.3, for Garcia. All three of Garcia’s completions went to senior Joseph Moreno for 122 yards and one touchdown. Moreno also led all Coyotes’ ball carriers with 12 rushes for 81 yards. However Garcia ran the ball five times for 20 yards and two touchdowns himself.
