Earlier this week in practice head coach John Walsh said his team will be able to win games if they control the “controllables.”
San Marcos (1-6, 0-5 26-6A) to settle down late in Saturday's game against Del Valle (3-3, 2-2) inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium. It seemed as if the Rattlers were on the verge of making a comeback after being held scoreless until the fourth quarter. San Marcos able to break the scoreless curse with 7:59 in the final quarter and came up with the stop that would put them in position to score the game-tying touchdown. But the team failed to stick to the motto of the week on 2nd and 10 sophomore tight Ryan Hix was tacked with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as San Marcos was driving, trailing 14-7. The penalty allowed Del Valle to run out the clock in the final two minutes of play. The Rattlers were able to get three stops forcing a 4th and 1. The team jumped offsides ultimately ending the game 14-7 for the hosts.
“Most important thing we did well was our defense kept us in the ball game all game,” Head Coach John Walsh said. “You keep it within a one score or two score game we had a chance to win at the end if we captured some momentum and that’s exactly what we did to capture momentum. And we’re working it down and we did not do what I said earlier, we did not control the “controllables.” What we did was make mistakes to make the outcome not in our favor.”
After a combined 4 yards for both teams in the first two drives of the game, Del Valle came out with the intention of ending the scoreless spell. San Marcos was forced to punt on three and out leaving Del Valle on the 20 yard line. Senior quarterback Jayce Knapp dropped back and found junior receiver Trent Leary 40 yards down the sideline for a touchdown, completing a 9-play, 80-yard drive.
The game then turned to defense. Neither team scored again until midway through the second half.
San Marcos returned the favor with a 10-play drive of its own but Del Valle’s defense ended the offense's rhythm with an interception on its own 18, halting the Rattlers' scoring chances. On 3rd and 3, Knapp hit sophomore receiver Braylon James on a slant route, which was initially caught until senior defensive back Quddus Ogunbase hit him hard, forcing a fumble recovered by the Rattlers.
San Marcos chewed up seven minutes on the clock only to be picked off again. Sophomore quarterback Isaiah Deleon was 4-6 on the drive before the interception.
Del Valle had 1:06 left in the half to make something happen. Knapp caught fire completing five passes in a row with superb clock management. On the sixth pass Ogunbase was in one on one coverage as he leaped in the air adding an interception to his turnover sheet. Ogunbase's second interception of the game left the score 6-0 at halftime.
“I thought the first half the momentum was killed with the turnovers,” Walsh said. “I think we had some movement. It's just the turnovers that kept killing it. The second half going three and out in the beginning of the half you just kill yourself. I couldn’t tell you what got us going. We just didn't turn the ball over which is how we kept the ball moving. We gave ourselves a chance.”
In the second half, the visitors came out firing on offense. They opened the half with a 45-yard pass to Leary who was tripped up before being able to score. The Rattler defense took pride in keeping the score where it was. The team rallied together four consecutive goal line stops in order to force a turnover on downs but the next drive Knapp found Leary on a fade route in the right corner. Del Valle used Leary on a reverse that completed the two-point conversion, putting them up 14-0 with 5:56 in the third.
The offenses went stagnant again until the fourth quarter. The Rattlers had to score in order to keep their chances alive and they made it happen. Deleon completed a 37-yard touchdown to senior Nelson Coleman by way of a wheel route. The senior rumbled through three defenders from the 20 yard line symbolizing the hosts will to fight back into the game.
The defense was able to get the stops they needed but it was the crucial mistakes made by the team that cost them the possibility of stealing their first win at home as they fell 14-7 to Del Valle.
The Rattlers will have one more chance to grab a win at home for the seniors but not before traveling to Burger Stadium for the final road game of the year against Austin Bowie at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 19.
