After flying high against Edinburg North last Friday, Mercedes came back down to earth. The Mercedes Tigers lost to the Sharyland Rattlers at home by a 56-40 margin on Friday. One positive for the Tigers, at least, is that this was the most points they've scored all season.
When it comes to explaining why Mercedes lost, don't look at Robert Sanchez. Despite the final result, he rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 7.9 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown. Backing up that air attack was Diego Bravo, who rushed for 115 yards.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Mercedes was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 356 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 193 rushing yards in four consecutive matches.
Calvin Harris continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Sharyland, throwing for 406 yards and six touchdowns while completing 73% of his passes, and also rushing for 171 yards and a touchdown on only 15 carries. Harris' longest rush was for an impressive 65 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Francisco Gomez did his part for the team as well, scoring a TD off of 215 receiving yards.
The loss snapped Mercedes' winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 3-2 record. As for Sharyland, the win made it two in a row for them and also bumps their season record up to 3-2.
Both squads will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Mercedes will get a bit of extra time to process the defeat as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Edcouch-Elsa at 7:00 p.m. on October 11th. Edcouch-Elsa's defense has only allowed 14.6 points per game this season, so Mercedes' offense will have their work cut out for them. As for Sharyland, they are taking a road trip to face off against Los Fresnos at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. That game will pit two of the most dominant signal callers against one another: Harris and Robert Pineda.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
