Navasota quarterback Kye Hildreth rushed for 194 yards and scored on runs of 80, 44 and 7 yards to lead the Rattlers to a 41-13 victory over No. 10 Rockdale at Rattler Stadium on Friday night.
"We didn't play really well," Rockdale coach Jeff Miller said. "But the main reason we didn't play well is because of what they did to us. They outplayed us on both sides of the ball. They executed their gameplan better than we executed ours."
The loss dropped the Tigers to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in District 24-3A. The Rattlers, who were ranked No. 5 before falling to Caldwell 14-0 last week, improved to 6-1 and 2-1 to get right back in the heart of the district race.
"I talked to Coach Miller this week, and he said he was concerned about playing us because of our loss last week," Navasota coach Lee Fedora said. "He thought we'd be a bit ticked and have the home-field advantage. But we never made this into a grudge match. We forgot about last week and just focused on what we had to do this week."
It took the Rattlers only 21 seconds to get the rout going. After an incompletion on first down of the opening drive, Hildreth found a huge hole between the right guard and tackle and went virtually untouched for the 80-yard score.
"It was a new wrinkle we put in," Fedora said. "We felt like they pursue very well, so we put in a counter there and got back to the inside. They overran it, and his speed is phenomenal. He can flat go."
The Tigers had an opportunity to answer on their ensuing drive. A series of runs by Greg Chelf and Terral Dixon helped Rockdale move from its 32 to inside the Navasota 20. But the drive stalled at the 11, where the Tigers decided to go for it on fourth-and-4.
Quarterback Joe Sanders tried to get around the corner on a keeper but was stopped a yard short of the first down, and the Rattlers took over.
"We had a chance to tie it," Miller said. "But that's been a problem for us all year. Our red-zone offense just can't seem to score."
The Rattlers needed 11 plays to move 90 yards, and they made it 14-0 on Hildreth's 7-yard scamper.
They increased the lead to 21-0 before the Tigers got on the board with 2:03 left in the first half on a 1-yard run by Sanders.
But with time left to operate, Hildreth answered when he stepped back, pump-faked a pass then lobbed the ball down the right side to Aaron Collins for a 62-yard touchdown that put the Rattlers up 27-7 at the half.
After the Tigers scored late in the third to cut the gap to 27-13, Hildreth broke free for a 44-yard scamper on which he changed directions half a dozen times before running into the middle of the end zone.
And the Tigers were all but done.
"He's pretty phenomenal," Miller said of Hildreth. "We overpursued quite a bit, but you have to with him or he'll get around the corner. We had him bottled up several times, but he still was able to get around the corner. That's a danger with him. If he breaks free and gets into our secondary, we are not the fastest team around."
Navasota will be at Taylor next week. Rockdale takes on Caldwell (5-1), which was off Friday and now sits alone atop the district standings at 3-0.
"The district title is out of our hands," Fedora said. "Caldwell is the frontrunner, so we need some things to happen. But we looked at this like a foot to the playoffs. Playing Caldwell and Rockdale back-to-back is like a playoff run. Our goal tonight was to get back in it and we did that tonight."
Miller had a similar approach.
"We had big plans," Miller said. "This kind of put a kink in those plans, but you have to forget about it and can't linger on it. You are going to face adversity. It's unrealistic to think anyone would go undefeated. We just have to rebound. We still have big plans."
