A Mission Eagles and Sharyland Rattlers football preview
Progress Times photo by Mario Magallon
Tonight, Richard Thompson Stadium will host a Week 3 non-district matchup between the Mission Eagles and the Sharyland Rattlers. These two teams are coming into this game with one win and one loss in non-district action. A win would get one of these teams over .500 while a loss will set that team back a bit before their district schedule starts.
The Eagles’ first matchup of the season was a nail-biting 23-21 win against the Veterans Memorial Patriots in the Battle of Conway. They followed up that close win with a close loss to the Weslaco East Wildcats in their second game of the season. The 31-34 loss put the Eagles at 1-1 on the season.
The Rattlers kicked off the season with a 27-32 (OT) loss to the Weslaco East Wildcats but got themselves on the winning track the following week. Their 35-14 win over the Hanna Golden Eagles brought home the Rattlers’ first win since late September last year.
These Eagles and the Rattlers have a lot more in common than what you might realize. Their offenses can put up points on the ground and through the air, while their defenses can make those important stops that stop momentum from leaving their side.
The Eagles’ strengths stem from their senior quarterback-running back-wide receiver trio of Diego Salinas, Thomas Aparicio, and Christian Kirk. Salinas, the dual threat quarterback, finds himself inside and outside of the pocket making plays with his arm and his legs. Salinas has connected with Kirk on more than a couple of touchdown passes already this season. Aparicio sets the tone for the Eagles on the ground and is always a threat to break out and take a long run to the end zone. Aparicio’s running sets up Salinas and the rest of the offense to make plays for the Eagles.
Mission head coach Danny Longoria told Progress Times about the preparation for the Rattlers, “The key this week is to focus on executing and keeping things simple. We need to clean ourselves up; We had a lot of penalties last week.” Longoria continued, “Our focus is to be great on defense in the secondary which will disrupt the quarterback. The only way you disrupt an offense like that is by putting pressure on both the receivers on the line of scrimmage and the quarterback.” Longoria emphasized the profound passing attack of the Rattlers this season.
The Rattlers have an offensive trio that continues to stand out during their games. The QB-RB-WR trio of Calvin Harris, Abram Carrasco, and Santiago Longoria have been bright spots for the Rattlers’ offense. Harris comes in as a junior this season, but has prior experience playing on the varsity team. He has amassed over 600 total yards and seven touchdowns in these two games alone. 500 of those yards were through the air and 100 on the ground. Harris has a number of targets but the beneficiary of it all is Longoria, who is the team’s leading receiver. Harris and Carrasco make up the majority of the team’s rushing attack. They’ve been helping this Rattlers team open up the field in the air by their efforts on the ground.
Rattlers’ head coach Craig Krell told Progress Times more about having a dual-threat quarterback in Harris’, “It allows us to not have a team focused on one or the other. They can’t just load the box and stop the run. We’re able to open up and pass the ball around to our receivers. If there’s a light box we can get back to the run.” Krell continued about some of the goals for this week, “Knowing our assignments and not having mental bluffs. That’s extremely important. That means we did our job learning the game plan and that keeps us focused. If we’re mentally sound in what we do and understand our scheme on both sides of the ball, good things are going to happen.”
Some issues that both of these teams share have to do with the opposing offenses rushing game. The Eagles have given up 494 rushing yards in their two games. Despite only giving up 75 rushing yards in their win over the Patriots, they gave up 419 rushing yards in their loss to the Cougars. The Rattlers defense has given up 428 rushing yards this season in their two games; 266 rushing yards in the loss to the Cougars and 162 rushing yards in their win over the Golden Eagles. Both of these defenses will have to be on their A-game when it comes to defending the run against each other. It’s safe to say whichever team can get it done more effectively on the ground will have the upper hand over their opponent.
This should be a fun game for these two teams and their fans. There are a lot of things that these two teams can refine on the field and this will be a great opportunity for them to do that.
This matchup is scheduled to kick off tonight at 7:00pm at Richard Thompson Stadium. Progress Times wishes the best of luck to these two Big 7 teams as they’ll look to find their stride for the remainder of the season.