PHARR — Sharyland got everything it wanted from the regular season.
An outright district championship. A perfect 6-0 district record. Seven consecutive wins.
It also got a reminder Thursday night of what could become a problem once the playoffs begin.
Sharyland defeated PSJA Southwest 42-15 to finish the regular season 8-2 overall and undefeated in District 16-5A Division II, completing a run few expected before the season.
“It feels awesome,” Sharyland head coach Craig Krell said. “Especially when no one picked you to win it. Most people, at the beginning of the year, had us finishing third or fourth. For us to get a share of the district championship last week, and then this week to be undefeated district champs, is pretty special.”
The Rattlers quickly built a 14-0 first-quarter lead, but the game began to resemble an issue that has followed them at different points this season.
The offense stalled. The energy dropped. Southwest began cutting into the lead.
A safety made it 14-2, and the Javelinas scored in the closing seconds of the second quarter to send Sharyland into halftime leading only 14-8.
Krell was visibly frustrated with what he saw from his sideline.
“I felt we went up 14-0, I saw some energy, and then after that it just kind of got real lackadaisical on the sideline in terms of emotion,” Krell said. “To me, football’s an emotional game. You’ve got to play with emotion.”
Senior receiver Francisco Gomez saw the same issue.
“In the first half, we came in a little bit overconfident and we just played at their level,” Gomez said. “We know we have a lot more potential. We got yelled at in the locker room at halftime, and we picked it up and showed what we could do.”
The Rattlers came out of halftime with a different level of urgency, and special teams helped turn the game quickly.
Sharyland recovered back-to-back loose balls on kickoffs, giving the offense short fields and opportunities to add two quick touchdowns. The sudden possessions helped turn a six-point halftime game into a comfortable Rattler lead.
Gomez was part of the second-half surge, scoring one of his three touchdowns on the night as Sharyland began pulling away.
The response after halftime was encouraging. The reason it was necessary was not lost on either player or coach.
Gomez said Sharyland has dealt with a tendency to become comfortable after building leads.
“Every first quarter, we would start up strong, and then coming into halftime we would go down because we would get comfortable that we were up by a lot,” Gomez said. “We let other teams get to us.”
That habit becomes more dangerous next week.
There are no more standings to protect or district games remaining. Sharyland hosts Brownsville Pace in the Bi-District round, and one poor night ends the season.
Krell said that reality has to change how the Rattlers approach the week beginning with practice.
“If you don’t bring it, this is your last game,” Krell said. “If you slip up and you mess up, your season’s over. A lot of it starts on Monday in practice, making sure that the kids are focused and bring the energy there, and it carries over to game time.”
Sharyland enters the postseason as the outright district champion and the No. 1 seed after going 6-0 against district opponents.
Gomez knows that record will not matter once the next game begins.
“We’re going to focus…” Francisco said, “play them like any other team. We’re going to play strong and we’re not going to give up.”
