OP/ED
I celebrated my two year anniversary of becoming the sports editor of the San Marcos Daily Record.
Since coming back to San Marcos after being at Texas State, this has become one of my favorite jobs since becoming a sports writer.
So I wanted to countdown some of my favorite moments covering both the Rattlers and the Bobcats.
When I first started back in 2022, I was dropped in the middle of football for the San Marcos Rattlers. While the news off the field was seemingly dominating the headlines, the Rattlers were in the middle of qualifying for the playoffs in back-to-back years.
It all came to a head in the final regular season game when San Marcos traveled to East Central with the winner advancing to playoffs.
Trailing late in the fourth quarter, the Rattlers pulled off one of the most amazing trick plays you would ever see. A double reverse pass ending with quarterback Kutter Gage Webb hitting running back Jaidyn Brown for the touchdown and sending San Marcos to the playoffs.
Little did I know, this was going to be the start of the excitement of covering sports in San Marcos.
Moving into the boys basketball season, I got to bear witness to one of the best seasons for the Rattlers.
Led by one of the most talented senior classes, San Marcos broke several records for a 38-4 overall record. In a packed house at the Snake Pit, the Rattlers defeated Converse Judson to capture their first district championship in over 23 years.
Going into playoffs, the Rattlers rolled through their opponents including defeating Austin Westlake in the Area Round of the playoffs, before punching their ticket to the Regional Tournament for the first time since the 19821983 season.
The Rattlers magical season came to an end in the regional final, but what a ride it was, especially seeing the support of the San Marcos community driving the team forward.
Across I-35 was another historical season for Texas State’s Women’s basketball team.
Headed up by a strong senior class, the Bobcats won their first regular season conference championship since 2008 and first ever Sun Belt conference title.
Texas State fell short of making the NCAA Tournament, falling to James Madison in the conference tournament final, but the Bobcats qualified for the Women’s NIT tournament.
Shifting the focus to the baseball and softball seasons, both the Rattlers and the Bobcats were more successful.
The Rattler baseball team was headed into the 2023 season with the high expectations of winning their first district championship in quite some time.
With a strong senior and junior class, the Rattlers rolled through the regular season and into district play. San Marcos pulled off a three-game sweep of the rival New Braunfels Unicorns en route to the Rattlers winning the district championship.
But the excitement didn’t stop there.
Playing the San Antonio Churchill Chargers in the Bi-District round of the playoffs, the Rattlers looked to win their first playoff game since 2016.
With the series tied at 1-1, the series went to Game 3, which was played across two stadiums in one day following a freak thunderstorm, a bench-clearing shoving match and ending with a dramatic comeback win for the Rattlers.
San Marcos met Lake Travis in the area round and defeated the Cavaliers in Game 2 before falling in a three game series.
In softball, the Bobcats went on another tear through the Sun Belt Conference and regular season, including a dramatic win over the No. 8 Texas Longhorns to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Though their season ended at the hands of Texas A&M, it was only the appetizer for next year.
After the summer break – completing my first full year – little did I know it was the start of something special here in San Marcos.
Coming off a historic baseball season, Texas State lived up to the name of Slam Marcos, blasting homer after homer, including defeating the vaunted Texas Longhorns.
For Rattler Track & Field, Exavion Harris became the first Rattler track athlete to qualify for the State Track Meet in the triple jump.
After years of struggling to be relevant at the FBS level, Bobcat football made one of the biggest splashes in program history by beating the Baylor Bears on the road to kickoff the 2023 season.
The wins kept coming for the Bobcats, who went 7-5 during the regular season to clinch bowl eligibility. Playing in their first ever bowl game, the Bobcats won the First Responder Bowl, beating Rice 45-21, which saw two pick-sixes — Brian Holloway and a offensive lineman Nash Jones — catching the lateral pass to score the touchdown.
Bobcat volleyball also made a splash during the season, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament as an At-Large bid for the first time in program history.
Rattler volleyball made their run into the postseason, beating the East Central Hornets in a fourth place tiebreaker to continue their season.
While basketball didn’t see a whole lot of success, the Lady Rattlers were able to push through and qualify for the playoffs after a successful season. However, the 2023-2024 season might be just a preview for a potential monster season coming soon for the 2024-2025 season.
Rattler baseball continued their success from last season to winning an eye-popping 27 games and a second place finish in district. Though the season didn’t see any playoff success, the Rattlers might be on the verge of a monster run in the coming years.
Rattler softball might not have seen postseason success, but the emergence of pitcher Adelaida Sierra has been a joy to watch. Anytime you can strike out 18 batters to tie the school record is nothing short of unbelievable.
Then came Bobcat softball. With everyone returning on the roster, Texas State stormed through the season, notching several wins against major opponents like Texas A&M, Penn State and Texas Tech.
The Bobcats finished second in the conference standings but hosted the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, looking to win their first tournament championship since 2018. Battling through a major thunderstorm, which forced the team to play twice in one day, the Bobcats made it to the conference championship game where they faced the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, who had won the past four tournament championships.
In front of a packed house, the Bobcats defeated their longtime enemies and celebrated winning the championship.
Texas State made noise in the NCAA Tournament by advancing to the Regional Final for the first time since 2003, and just the third time in program history, before losing to Texas A&M.
Being in San Marcos, I have seen the highest of highs and the lowest lows for both the Rattlers and the Bobcats. But nevertheless, my goal is to bring to the readers and the subscribers everything that is happening with our San Marcos athletes and all things Bobcats and Rattlers.
I’m happy and blessed to be able to cover everything here in San Marcos.
So here is to another great year in San Marcos.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
