STORY BY: TIM SCHNETTLER
WILLIS— One half yard. That is all that stood between the Navasota Rattlers and the tying touchdown Friday night. With the Rattlerstrailing the Willis Wildkats and a mere 4 seconds left on the clock, Navasotafaced a first-and-goal from the Willis’ 2-yard line.
The Rattlers, who moved to the 2 with a pair of passes to Solomon McGinty and a pass interference call, turned to tailback Howard Horn totry and push it in from there.
Horn took the pitch from Kadarius Baker, went to the left,and despite his best efforts, was dragged down just short of the end zone, asthe Rattlers dropped a 35-28 non-district contest Friday night.
“We came up a yard short, but the effort out of our kids wasoutstanding,” said Navasota head coach Lee Fedora. “The second half, I felt ourdefense gave us a lot of opportunities. We played a dang good Willis team andwe showed a lot of fight.”
The exciting finish was only fitting for a game that saw theteams combine for 56 points in the first half. After the teams went up and downthe field in the first half, both defense rose to the challenge and barredtheir teeth.
The only score in the second half came when the Rattlers(1-1) marched 63 yards in eight plays to pull within seven. The score came whenHoward Horn, who finished the night with 103 yards and two touchdowns on 12carries, took a pitch and raced in from 12-yards out with 1:00 left in the third quarter.
Neither team came close to scoring again until Willis moveddeep into Navasota territory, late in the fourth quarter, only to turn the ballover on downs with less than a minute left on the clock.
With only 48 seconds on the clock and no timeouts, theRattlers were 80 yards away from the Willis’ end zone. It didn’t seem the phasethem as Baker hit McGinty on a fly pattern for a big gainer into Willisterritory.
A pass interference play tacked on another 15 yards and theBaker threaded the needle to McGinty who was double covered, with McGintyhauling in the pass and going out of bounce at the Willis 2-yard line with fourseconds left, only to come up just short on the ensuing play.
Things started with a bang for the Rattlers as theyrecovered a fumble at the Willis 7-yard line on the second play of the game. Itdidn’t take them long to cash in as Jacob Malek caught a swing pass for 6 yardsand then plunged in from the 1-yard line for the first score of the game.
As quickly as Navasota went on top, Willis answered, needingjust two plays and 29 seconds to knot the score. Willis quarterback Fred Nixonthrew the first of his three touchdown passes on the night, hooking up withRobert Johnson, who got behind the defense for a 70-yard score.
Willis (2-0) would tack on two more scores over the next sevenminutes, capitalizing on a short field both times before the Rattlers found theend zone again.
Navasota’s score came when Horn took a handoff, broke to theoutside and outraced the defense for a 75-yard romp. Cesar Baron’s second extrapoint of the night made it a 21-14 game heading into the second quarter.
Willis upped the lead with two more scores, both on passes,making it 35-14. Nixon hit Kevin Markham for a 21-yard score then connectedwith Demarcus Kizzie for a 20-yard strike.
Navasota scored the final points of the half when Baker hitMcGinty on a slant pattern for a 32-yard score on fourth down. On the play, theWillis defense was cheating up and the Rattlers had the perfect play called,with Baker and McGinty executing it to perfection.