No. 3: Rattlers break 14-year postseason to host first ever playoff game

SMDR STORIES OF THE YEAR

The San Marcos Daily Record Sports Team counting down the best stories from 2024. Coming in at No. 3 is the San Marcos Boys Soccer team breaking their playoff drought and hosting their first playoff at Toyota Rattler Stadium in program history, The article is a recap from the Rattlers playoff game against San Antonio Johnson published on March 27, 2024.

In the first ever playoff game ever hosted by San Marcos, the Rattlers fought till the end falling to the district champion San Antonio Johnson Jaguars 2-1.

The Rattlers and Head Coach Coronado Reyes finish the year with a 8-9-3 overall record while breaking a 14 year playoff drought.

“They got out early on us,” Reyes said. “It is what it is. But these guys had a lot to prove. The motto was finish the fight. No matter what happens, we finish the fight and that is what we did.”

San Marcos found themselves down early in the first half when the Jaguars scored the first goal of the game in the 32 minute of the first minute.

Johnson followed the goal with another in the 25 minute to put the Rattlers in a 2-0 hole.

Going into the second half, San Marcos was not going to back down.

“These guys have been fighting all year,” Reyes said. “Even in district, [the majority] of our losses were by one goal or a tie. The goal was to finish the game. The character of this team is phenomenal. We have a lot of leaders and they have no quit in them.”

Johnson failed to add on to their lead as defensive pressure from the Rattlers and the defending from goalkeeper Diego Hernadez kept the Jaguars from scoring.

“It’s just one of the things where the guys at haltime decided they were done giving up goals and getting pressure as a group,” Reyes said. “We made a commitment to get that 2-0 lead back. Even though we failed, we got pretty damn close.”

After continuing to fight through the tough Johnson defense, the Rattlers finally broke through. In the 18th minute, senior middle forward Angel Ca- for the majority of the final minutes but were unable to tie the game as the Jaguars held on for the 2-1 win.

Despite the loss, Reyes thanked the love and support shown by the San Marcos community.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” Reyes said. “I appreciate everyone in the community coming out to support us. The guys played hard and the fans have done that. The goal was to create a winning culture down here and repeat to keep coming back here to put ourselves in position to win gold balls. The culture is here and we have a new face in boys soccer for the younger guys to lead.”

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc marillo found the back of the net to score the goal and cut the lead down to 2-1.

“It was huge,” Reyes said. “We have come back from 2-0 games before. It put fire in the guys and the bench went crazy.”

With the momentum on the Rattlers side, San Marcos made the push to tie the game and send it into overtime.

San Marcos held possession brought the fuel. They like to show out for these guys. It did have a football feel to it for sure.”

While the results were not what the Rattlers wanted, Reyes firmly believes that the future is bright for the soccer program.

“I told the seniors we have been trying to lay down the foundation for this program since I got here,” Reyes said. “We

WHY THIS STORY?

“The Rattler Soccer program broke a 14-year playoff drought to qualify for the postseason, placing in fourth place in District 27 while winning eight games. But the magical season wasn’t done quite yet for San Marcos as the Rattlers hosted their first ever playoff game against San Antonio Johnson. In an atmosphere you would see normally in the fall on Friday Nights, the community showed out for the Rattlers that Monday night to witness history. Though the Rattlers fell short against Johnson, San Marcos officially laid down the foundation for future Rattler soccer players to follow.”

— Colton McWilliams Sports Editor