It’s not how you start but how you finish.
The Reagan Rattlers, who lost two of their first three games this season, can attest to that after winning their second consecutive District 26-5A title with a 30-21 victory over Madison on Friday night at Heroes Stadium.
Reagan, 8-2 overall, has won seven in a row after losing a 17-12 heartbreaker to Smithson Valley in its district opener. The Rattlers’ other loss was to Katy Cinco Ranch, 28-0, in their season opener.
Reagan plays Pflugerville in the 5A Division II bidistrict playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Comalander Stadium.
Friday night’s victory, before a crowd of 6,276, was especially satisfying for Reagan because the Rattlers were picked by district head coaches to finish fifth in this year’s race. The favorite: Madison.
The Mavericks made the Division I playoffs - they play at Austin Westlake in a bidistrict game Friday at 7:30 p.m. - but they can’t feel good about the way they’re playing.
The opposite is true for Reagan.
“We weren’t sure what to expect at the beginning of the season because we had so many young kids,” Rattlers head coach David Wetzel said. “We had a lot more questions than answers.
“We had some key sophomores we were depending on and they played well. We have kids with high expectations and they let us coach them hard. I’m just fortunate to be where I am and to have such a great coaching staff.”
No sophomore on the field played better than Reagan quarterback Trevor Knight, who demonstrated once again that he’s mature beyond his years on the field. This young man is going to be something special by the time he’s a senior.
“You’re not going to find a lot of quarterbacks like him,” said senior safety Kyle Davis, who anchored the Rattlers’ defense. “He makes good decisions for somebody that young and takes care of the ball.”
Knight completed 9 of 15 passes for 182 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 54 yards on 11 carries. Knight had scoring passes of 67 yards to Austin Hays, 2 yards to Taylor Small and 3 yards to Jordan Mengele.
“He does a great job,” Wetzel said. “We watched him in middle school and thought he had a lot of potential.”
Davis can relate to Knight’s development. He started as a sophomore and is one of the top college prospects in the San Antonio area.
“We never listened to the critics,” Davis said, referring to the preseason polls. “We knew going in that we could have a good team. The way we’re playing now and after beating a team that was ranked so high before the season, I think we can play with anybody.”
The loss was a bitter one for Madison, which lost four turnovers. The Mavs, 6-3 overall, finished 5-3 in district.
“That’s the story of this season,” Madison head coach Jim Streety said, referring to the turnovers. “We had 11 turnovers in those three losses. We knew going into this game we couldn’t do that.”
Junior running back Aaron Green and senior quarterback Kevin Cortez played well for the Mavs, but it wasn’t enough to offset three lost fumbles and one interception.
Green finished with 144 yards on 20 carries and one TD before going out with an ankle injury with 2:29 left. He was helped to the team bus by two trainers after the game.
Cortez threw a 23-yard TD pass to wide receiver Nate Askew and scored on a 13-yard scramble in which he broke several tackles.
Askew, who has committed to Texas A&M, had a rough night despite his scoring reception. An outstanding punt returner, he lost fumbles at the Madison 24 and 32 while attempting to field punts.
Madison was ahead 21-17 late in the third quarter when Askew lost the first one. It took Reagan four plays to score, Knight hooking up with Mengele for a 3-yard strike with 26 seconds left in the period.
With the Rattlers ahead 23-21, Diego Flores put a punctuation mark on Reagan’s victory by running 32 yards for a TD on the first play after Drew Kerstetter recovered Askew’s second fumble.
Defensive back Moses Bell intercepted a pass by Cortez at the Reagan 5 early in the second quarter, and also recovered a fumble by running back Troy Williams at the Reagan 20 with 11:17 remaining in the game.
“Those turnovers were huge,” Wetzel said. “We had some kids who played great on special teams tonight.”
