Staying alive

STAFFORD - Navasota entered their game against Stafford with a playoff mindset knowing they must win their final two games to have a chance at making the playoffs. The Rattlers responded to their first order of business with a 28-10, win road win Oct. 20, over the Spartans.

“That’s playoff win number one,” Navasota Head Coach Casey Dacus said to his team in the postgame huddle. “Now we have to get our eyes forward quickly to Brazosport. That is playoff win number,” the team shouted ‘two.’ “It has to be the same mindset all week,” said Dacus.

Stafford (4-4, 1-3) drove downfield on the opening possession but settled for a 32-yard field goal from Fernando Correa. Navasota answered with a 38-yard kickoff return by Artavian Rutherford to the Spartan 42-yard line.

Several plays later, Rutherford took the handoff from Javyn Jessie at the 24-yard-line. He went around the left side of the line, juked a player to the right at the 17-yard line, then outran the defense for the score to give the Rattlers the lead. Juan Vargas booted in the point-after.

Navasota forced a Spartan punt on the ensuing possession, but on a second-and-11 play at the Rattler 44, Jessie was hit in the backfield and the ball popped loose. Stafford recovered at the Rattler 17-yard-line. Quarterback Kamare Shorts faked a handoff up the middle then took it around the left side for a 10-yard score. Correa added the extra-point for a 10-7 lead.

The Rattlers took over at their own 33-yard-line with 1:59 before halftime after forcing a Spartan punt. Jessie completed a 10-yard pass to Cameron Quezada but jumped early on the ensuing play for a first-and-15. Four plays later, Jessie connected with Cameron Ross for a 44-yard gain to the 1-yard-line. Jessie punched it in on the next play to give the Rattlers lead for good. Vargas tacked on the extra point.

“I’m just really proud of them,” Dacus said about his team. “I thought they showed a lot of fight tonight and a lot of resilience. They deserved to win. We say that every week, you have to be worthy to win. I thought we were worthy this week.”

The Rattlers held Stafford scoreless the remainder of the game large in-part to big games by seniors, Chris Thompson and Frankedric Powell. Thompson had 12 tackles, including a tackle- for-loss and a forced fumble. Powell finished with 10 tackles, a sack and two tackles-for-loss.

“It is a credit to our defensive scheme,” said Dacus. “I thought it was really well tonight. I thought the linebackers and defensive line were very active. And I thought the secondary did a good job of taking away, in my opinion, the best receiver [Christopher Gardner-Holland] in the district. We bracketed him all night long trying not to let him get loose.”

The Rattlers added a pair of scores in the fourth quarter. Jamal Thomas broke several tackles before jetting past the Spartan defense for a 43-yard touchdown run. Jessie added his second rushing touchdown from a yard out for Navasota’s final score. Vargas split the uprights on both extra points.

Jessie completed 14 of his 18 passes for 245 yards and rushed for 20 yards and two touchdowns on five carries. Thomas carried the ball 19 times for 120 yards and a touchdown.

Navasota (3-6, 2-3) hosts the Brazosport Exporters (0-8, 0-4) Friday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. It is another must win for the Rattlers. With a Rattler win, Navasota will still need some help to make the playoffs. The easiest route is if El Campo loses one of its two remaining games.

El Campo plays Stafford next week and Brazosport in the final week. “Control what you can control,” Dacus said of the playoff scenarios. “There is no reason for us to look down the road at all. We have our hands full with Brazosport and nothing else matters to us right now. The playoff scenarios don’t matter unless we take care of our business, so that has to be focus number one.”