Some of the seniors on the San Marcos football team haven't won a home game in their careers. The last home contest the Rattlers won came in a 64-50 playoff win over Austin Westwood during the 2017-2018 season.
Last Friday against Austin High, 21 flags were thrown in the first half of the game causing some controversies for the Rattlers heading into halftime. Head coach John Walsh calls the collection of flags an “uncontrollable” but in the same breath, Walsh said what his team can control was the four first half turnovers causing San Marcos to go into the fourth quarter trailing 35-28. Taking care of the ball is what the Rattlers have to do in order for his seniors to add wins on their resume.
“I've been saying it for a couple of weeks, the football’s looking better,” Walsh said. “I want that better to turn into some W's for these seniors in district play.”
Aside from taking care of the ball, the Rattlers’ main focus this week is stopping Del Valle’s ground attack, led by four-star Michigan commit senior Tavierre Dunlap. The running back’s speed, along with his ability to play inside the tackles, makes him the most dangerous back this team has seen.
“When you play good running backs, you can't let him get to the third strike, because then he's going to show you why he's going to Michigan,” Walsh said about Dunlap. “You just gotta get to the line of scrimmage and be a great tackler, gang tackle. But don't let him get it, don't give him a crease, don't give him the edge where he can get that third strike going.”
The team is no stranger to playing against NCAA Division I talent. They’ve already seen players committed from USC, Columbia and Yale. Dunlap is just another player added to that list.
“I mean we've been going against guys like that all year. We played the No. 1 team in the state already,” senior defensive back Quddus Ogunbase said. “And then we played another top-10 right before that, so it's nothing new. (We need to) just play like we play.”
San Marcos (1-5, 0-4) has two more chances to win at home but the first comes against Del Valle (2-3, 1-2) Saturday at 2 p.m. Webb explains what it would mean to win not only for the seniors on the team but for the fans itching to celebrate at home.
“We’re just trying to slowly tick off some of the things that we missed out in our sophomore and junior years trying to get this home win, see the crowd celebrate. Because you know the crowd deserves that to not have a home win the past three years. So, it's bigger than us.”
