STORY BY: TIM SCHNETTLER
NAVASOTA – The Navasota Rattler football team continued its dominance of opponents Friday night, dismantling an undermanned and overmatched Austin McCallum Knight football team at Rattler Stadium on Friday night.
Navasota, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, scored on its first six possessions of the first half and its first two of the second half in route to a 57-9 thrashing of the Class 4A Knights. The victory upped the Rattlers record to 6-0 on the season heading into the start of District 18-3A play next week. McCallum dropped to 3-3.
Quarterback Kadarius Baker, who has been spectacular for the Rattlers this season continued to carve up opposing defenses, throwing for 323 yards and four touchdowns, bringing his season totals to 2,079 yards passing and 25 touchdowns.
Baker threw three touchdowns in the first half to three different receivers, then added one more in the second half, before exiting the game with more than four minutes left in the third quarter.
Solomon McGinty led the receiving corps for the Rattlers hauling in five passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns, one for 29 yards and another for 65. Austin Collins and Terrance Creeks each added a touchdown reception, Collins on a 47-yard score and Creeks on a 39-yarder.
The Rattlers also rushed for four touchdowns on the night, getting one each from Collins (5 yards), Hunter Sparkman (17 yards), Xavier Creeks (20 yards) and Derrion Randle (65 yards).
For the night Rattler offense amassed 508 yards (323 passing, 185 rushing), while the defense was stellar once again as well, holding McCallum to 220 total yards (198 rushing, 22 passing), with most of it coming after the game was well in the Rattlers’ control.
The oddity of the night was the number of plays run by each team, as McCallum ran 60 plays to Navasota’s 31. But Navasota was extremely efficient in its plays, with its longest scoring drive consisting of just six plays.
Navasota’s eight scoring drives used just a total of 5 minutes and 30 seconds, with three of them needing less than 20 seconds for the Rattlers to find the end zone.
Jake Baurer, who earlier this season returned a fumble for a touchdown, returned a blocked extra points 85 yards for 2-points to close out the scoring on the night.
The Rattlers open 18-3A play next Friday when they travel to Madisonville to take on the Mustangs. The game can be heard live on Navasota News 1550 KWBC with the pregame starting at 7 p.m.