SMHS FOOTBALL
SAN MARCOS -- Buck Steyn threw for 209 yards and a touchdown, six running backs combined for 232 yards and four touchdowns, and the San Marcos defense strangled the Buda Johnson offense in a 40-7 win Friday in the District 29-6A opener at Toyota Rattler Stadium.
“That’s the most important thing,” Head Coach John Walsh said. “You start making your footprint now on the way to the playoffs, and tonight’s really important to set the tone and start that momentum. Our defense led the way. They’ve led the way all year long and I don’t think they’re going to stop.”
Steyn, who was held to 15 yards in last week’s lopsided loss to Lake Travis, carved up the Jaguars defense with a 16-for-26 night passing, throwing his only interception on a heave into the end zone on the last play of the first half and the Rattlers leading by 13.
Justin Tardy led all rushers with 71 yards and a touchdown, followed by Donovan Garcia with 58 and a touchdown, and Elliott Gray added a 35-yard touchdown run as part of a 43-yard night. Steyn added a 20-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
“Every drive we didn’t score, we beat ourselves,” Walsh said. “All year long, we haven’t been able to say that. … But this tonight, it was just us against us, and we just had to quit being knuckleheads.”
Meanwhile, the Rattlers defense scored its first touchdown of the season when Jah’Marien Nichols sacked Jags quarterback Jace Tello and forced a fumble, which Trey Walker recovered and took 12 yards into the end zone early in the second half for a 19-0 lead.
Tello, who completed one of 7 passes for 5 yards, later left the game after a lengthy injury timeout.
His replacement Jonah Montgomery, managed to get Johnson on the board with a 70-yard catch-andrun touchdown pass to Keane McGettrick with just under five minutes remaining in the game.
That single play put Johnson in positive yards on offense for the night with a total of 62 on 32 plays. The Jags had minus-5 yards on 18 plays in the first half and the game with minus-28 yards on 23 carries.
“We came a long way,” Senior defensive end I’zayah Young said. “We’ve been together since we were little. It’s all the way now. We always kept that mindset of ‘No one’s scoring on us.’ We just come out there being relentless and we just have that mentality just being dogs. Can’t nobody mess with us.
“It’s just every day in practice, we take things seriously. We hustle around and fly around. It’s a brotherhood on that defensive side.”
The win boosts San Marcos to 1-0 in district and 3-2 overall. The Rattlers will be at Schetz Clemens (2-3 overall, 0-1 in district) on Friday. Clemens lost to five-time defending district champion Cibolo Steele, 48-20 last week.
Johnson fell to 1-4 overall and takes on New Braunfels Canyon (2-2), which had a bye last week.
Senior wide receiver Elliot Gray puts out the stiff arm in the Rattlers 40-7 win over Buda Johnson last Friday. The San Marcos offense churned up over 400 yards of total offense against the Jaguars. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo
The ‘Purple Thunder’ defense has led the way for the Rattlers this season, holding opponents to an average of 22.4 points through five games. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo
