Meet the Navasota Rattlers, the most dominant football team that no one is talking about
There are plenty of dominant teams across America. It's early in the season after all. Still, there might not be any squad quite as overwhelming as Navasota High (Navasota, Tx.).
Navasota is fresh off an 83-0 walloping of Sterling High (Steling, Tx.). It has thrashed its first three opponents by a combined score of 142-3. That's an average margin of victory of 46 points. The Rattlers have won 19 consecutive games, including the 2012 Class 3A state title.
Incredibly, despite that dominance, Navasota isn't even the top ranked team in Class 3A. In fact, according to the Houston Chronicle, it isn't even the top Class 3A squad in the larger Houston area. This is patently ridiculous. How can a team win 19 straight games, including a state title, and score 142 points in three games and not be the best squad in its class?
In fact, Navasota's dominance goes far beyond this current campaign. The 2012 UIL Class 3A state title game finished as a 39-3 Navasota rout of Gilmore High (Gilmore, Ca.). In total, the Rattlers allowed only 120 points in 16 games, an average of just 7.5 points per game. In high school football, particularly in a talent-loaded state like Texas, that's as good as a shutout. Score as many points as Navasota does, and giving up 7 per game is no sweat.
Sure, Navasota graduated its state champion QB, but the 2013 Rattlers seem to be pretty well set behind center, too; new quarterback Shelton Eppler threw five touchdown passes against Sterling alone.
Whether or not Navasota finishes at the heights of the 2012 Rattlers remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: They are much better than they are getting credit for. Given that they're already ranked among the state's top 3, that's saying something.
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