The wait is finally over for head coach John Walsh and San Marcos as the visiting Hutto are knocking on the door, ready to kick off the 2022 high school football season. The preparation is complete, and it’s time for Friday night lights as the purple and white look to start hot in front of the San Marcos faithful.
Hutto comes into this season after making their own trip to the postseason last year, where they lost to Westlake in the first round, 38-9. With new head coach Will Compton calling the shots, the Hippos look to start the new era off with a win behind their explosive offense.
“Their quarterback’s really good. I tell you when I watched the video, they’re well coached,” Walsh said. “They got a pretty good scheme with the counter game and an RPO pass off of it. So they got good players, and they got good schemes to back it up.”
With last Friday’s scrimmage behind them, the Rattler offense looks to fine-tune their game plan as they prepare for the opening kickoff. While the team found success, there are always improvements to be made, and heading into game week, now is the time to do it.
“I really thought offensively in our scrimmage we were pretty clean. I want to get it real clean,” Walsh said. “Because I know we’re big, I know we’re strong, I know we can execute and we got guys that can make plays. But, we got to be clean from left to right. If we do that, we’ll move the ball.”
One major addition to the offense this off-season comes in the form of Kutter Gage Webb. After being stationed at backup-quarterback and punter last season, the Texas State baseball commit has taken on the role of wide-out to add another weapon for quarterback Isaiah DeLeon. Paired with Webb is returning receiver, Tony Diaz. With his long-time friend joining him at wide receiver, Diaz is excited about the change. Diaz also is looking forward to catching passes from senior starting quarterback Isaiah DeLeon.
“I always loved him like a brother. We had amazing chemistry in middle school, like he would just throw to me (and we’d get a) touchdown every play. Now having him on my side feels good,” Diaz said. “(DeLeon)’s got the arm, he can sling it, I just know that he’ll put the ball where it needs to be and like he’ll find me open.”
The Rattlers and Hippos both finished 4-3 in district and 5-6 overall in 2021. With very similar seasons behind the two programs, the game could feature a very even and competitive matchup. Regardless of the result, Coach Walsh expects a different environment than 2020’s home-opener with New Braunfels.
“I’m expecting the stands to be full and if I remember correctly, there might not have been many people in the stands, but our home opener was a heck of a game,” Walsh said. “We came up short against New Braunfels, but it was a fun game. So I’m expecting lots of excitement in front of a big crowd.”
The purple and white are set to kick off their season at the Toyota Rattler Stadium Friday, Aug. 26 against Hutto.
