Rattlers eying potential upsets
Examiner photo by Matthew Ybarra Cameron Ross hauled in two touchdown passes in the Rattler’s final district win over Brazosport, 14-30, Oct. 27, at Rattler Stadium.
Examiner Photo by Matthew Ybarra Seniors, David Romero (55) and Chris Thompson (21), battle in the trenches against the Brazosport Exporters’ offensive linemen. Navasota picked up a 14-30 won on senior night at Rattler Stadium Oct. 27.
Examiner photo by Matthew Ybarra Navasota sophomore Valentin Castaneda attempts to stop a Brazosport player short of the endzone. Navasota has an open week in the final week of District 12-4A play and a playoff berth still in limbo.
Examiner photo by Matthew Ybarra Artavian Rutherford escapes for one of his two rushing touchdowns in Navasota’s 14-30 win over Brazosport. The junior had 24 carries for 192 yards in the game.
Navasota controlled only one part of the playoff narrative in a must win game on senior night Oct. 27 at Rattler Stadium. Fireworks lit the night sky following a 14-30 win over Brazosport.
The Rattlers have an open week in the final week of district play, so they will have their eyes on two games this Friday in hopes of a playoff berth. One of two scenarios must transpire, Brazosport (0-9, 0-5) must beat El Campo (4-5, 2-3) or Stafford (4-5, 1-4) needs to knockoff Bay City (6-3, 3-2).
“We had to treat this like a playoff game,” said Navasota Head Coach Casey Dacus. “We backed ourselves into a corner losing a couple games after [winning] the Bay City game. When we did that, we knew there was no room for error after that. I thought our guys did a good job the last two weeks of staying with it, and I am really proud of them.”
Brazosport forced Navasota to punt on the opening possession, then capitalized on a 64-yard passing touchdown from Cameron Hinton to Toric Goins.
A couple minutes later, the Rattlers answered on a 6-yard pass connection from Javyn Jessie to Cameron Ross, their first of two scoring connections on the night. Senior Juan Vargas connected on the extra point.
The Rattlers extended their lead on the leg of Vargas who booted a 41-yard field goal to give Navasota a 10-7 lead. Ross hauled in his second touchdown with 9:43 remaining in the second quarter, this one from 46-yards out. Vargas connected on the point after. Before halftime, Artavian Rutherford broke a 64-yard touchdown run for a 7-24 halftime lead.
Kaiden Shoemake interrupted a scoreless third quarter pounding in a touchdown from a yard out.
The Rattlers finalized the scoring, 14-30, with 10:27 remaining in the game on Rutherford’s second rushing touchdown, this one good for 15 yards. Rutherford had 24 carries for 192 yards in the game to go along with his two scores.
Jessie completed 11 of his 16 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. Ross caught four of those passes for 69 yards and both scores.
Dacus said farewell to the first group of seniors he has seen through the program from seventh grade until now and he was happy they were able to win on senior night. “I’m happy for them,” said Dacus. “You know it has been a grind this year with a lot of challenges and I’m really happy with the resiliency to find a way to win these last two weeks. I’m just happy for them to be able to go out that way.”
The Rattlers will continue practice as normal this week to prepare for a potential Bi-District playoff game.