Rattlers fall to New Braunfels, set for must-win game in season finale

In football, one play can flip the entire script of a ballgame regardless of what happened before.

As the San Marcos looked to end a 14-game losing streak to the New Braunfels Unicorns, the Rattlers were driving down the field trailing 17-10 in the third quarter.

With the ball on the New Braunfels four yard line, the Rattlers pushed toward the goal line before being stopped at the one-yard line.

Unfortunately for San Marcos, the whistle wasn’t blown.

In the ensuing scrum, a New Braunfels defender ripped the ball out before taking it 99 yards for the score as the Unicorns used the momentum swing to move toward a 38-10 victory.

The Rattlers dropped to 3-6 overall in the season while being forced into a three-way tie for fourth place along with East Central and Schertz Clemens.

Defensive Coordinator Kurtis Kloiber, who’s taken over as interim head coach for John Walsh who is currently serving a five-game suspension from the UIL over alleged recruiting violations, talked about how the Rattlers were able to overcome their first half mistakes in the second half while also improving from what was lacking during last week’s game against Converse Judson.

“I was really proud of how the kids played in the first half,” Kloiber said. “At halftime we talked about eliminating the silly mistakes to avoid putting us behind the chains. I thought we did that in the second half so they rose up to what we were challenging them to do. We went into this game wanting to be the more physical team and I thought we did that.”

Kloiber said the goal-line strip that extended the lead for the Unicorns was a devastating play that San Marcos had trouble regrouping from.

“That play at the goal line is reviewable in both the NFL and the college level,” Kloiber said. “But in high school it’s not. [The referees] made the call saying he still had momentum going before they stripped the ball. It kinda took the wind out of our sails a little bit and it would have made a 17-17 ballgame. We had a hard time recovering from that.”

The strip fumble was one of five turnovers on the night for the Rattlers which led to 31 of 38 points the Unicorns had scored.

Though the San Marcos offense continued to move the ball successfully against New Braunfels defense, the turnovers had stopped their momentum.

“We talked to the offensive coaches and I told them that we were going to stick with the game plan,” Kloiber said. “I liked what we had and I thought we were executing very well. We were moving the ball on them [New Braunfels] really well but we had the turnovers. When you turn the ball over, it just makes it difficult … we need to try and limit those turnovers mistakes. We still have one more game against East Central.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Rattlers capitalized on three turnovers in the first half including two interceptions by King Diaz and Cory Fennell.

The turnovers helped put the Rattlers in prime scoring opportunities and allowed San Marcos to keep up with the Unicorns.

“Those two interceptions were really key,” Kloiber said. “That took two possessions away from them. One of [the interceptions] set us up inside the 15-yard line where we were able to punch it in to make 10-10 at half. That field goal really helped us and I thought our kicker did a good job of getting us three points along with our entire special teams unit.”

Next week is now a must-win situation for the Rattlers as they will make the trip out to San Antonio to take the East Central Hornets.

For San Marcos, a win over East Central secures a playoff spot while the Hornets need both a win and a loss by Schertz Clemens to qualify.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. from East Central Stadium on Friday, Nov. 4.