November 5th, 2009
Rattlers hope to finish with a win

STAFF REPORT

The San Marcos Rattlers will end their high school football season Friday night at Bobcat Stadium with hopes of finishing with a win against Seguin.

The wins haven’t come in droves to the Rattlers this year, but they’ve often played well enough to win, which made last week’s 49-24 loss at Boerne Champion an indication that they were heartbroken. After launching themselves into the playoff race with a bracing 44-32 win against Kerrville Tivy four weeks ago, the Rattlers went to San Antonio and pushed Alamo Heights to the edge in a 23-22 loss.

Two weeks ago, their playoff hopes ended with a 28-21 loss at home to Schertz Clemens. Then Champion, which swallowed elimination a week earlier, pounced on the Rattlers, taking a 28-3 lead before halftime last week.

“We laid an egg,” San Marcos coach Steve Van Nest said.

The whole template of seniors, including skill players Ryan Schweers, Andre Ray, Scooter Walker, Michael Wilburn, Kristian Cogdill, Peyton Pringle, Tomas Velasquez and Blake Bagley will play its last game together against Seguin.

They won’t be able to leave their skill behind for next year’s team, but they have, at least, brought back some of the luster after last year’s 2-8 campaign during which it seemed like the Rattlers were never in a game.

“This team, the character has been great,” Van Nest said. “It’s got good, hard-working kids who have a good work ethic. Unfortunately, it’s not showing up in the win-loss column, and we know that’s the bottom line. But this team has got the program going in the right direction.”

The Rattlers are 2-6 overall and 1-5 in District 27-4A. Seguin is 2-7 and 0-6. Seguin hasn’t won a game in the district since beating the Rattlers in last season’s final game.

Wimberley would clinch the District 8-3A championship with a win Friday night at Fredericksburg. The Texans, Burnet and Liberty Hill all are tied at 4-1 in the district entering Friday’s final round, but the Texans have beaten both of the other teams.

The Texans are 5-4 overall. Fredericksburg is 1-4 in the district and 3-6 overall.

The San Marcos Baptist Academy will close out the season at home Friday night (7:30 p.m.) with a game against Hyde Park Baptist. The Academy is 5-4 overall and 1-3 in TAPPS Division II District 3 after last week’s 34-13 loss at Texas Military Institute. Hyde Park Baptist is 2-2 and 4-5.