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San Marcos quarterback Alex Garcia connected with wide receiver Takai Madgett twice in the fourth quarter to cut Laredo United’s three-possession lead to five points.
The senior duo scored on an 83-yard strike and a 70-yard heave to bring the Rattlers within 28-23 late in the final period.
San Marcos’ comeback bid came up short, however. The Rattlers fell 28-23 on Friday inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium.
“They’re Rattlers — that's what we always do,” head coach Mark Soto said of the Rattlers’ second-half performance. “We play hard. We've been coming out in the second half really well. Our third quarters have been very good to us. So I didn't expect anything less. They wanted to win. They went after it as hard as they could.”
San Marcos (0-3) received an early break against United (2-1) when the Longhorns muffed a punt, which set up the Rattlers at their opponent’s 38-yard line. But the Rattlers’ couldn’t cash in on the United error.
San Marcos drove the ball down to the Longhorn 1-yard line on its following possession. But the Rattlers came up empty-handed.
San Marcos got on the board first on its final possession of the first quarter when senior kicker Daniel Marquez nailed a 38-yard field goal. But United rattled off 21 points in the second quarter with three touchdown passes from senior quarterback Eduardo Huerta to take a 21-3 lead into halftime.
The Longhorns extended their advantage to 28-3 in the third quarter when Huerta snuck into the endzone on a fourth-down play. But the Rattler defense tightened up after Huerta’s rushing touchdown and kept United from scoring again.
“(The defense) just continued to run to the ball,” Soto said. “Yes, it was an attitude thing (in the first half). I mean, I couldn’t draw up anything on the board that was going to change what was going on. We made a few adjustments to trips and started changing up coverage in the first half, but we were stoning the run and then the (Laredo) quarterback and the receivers had the drops after that.”
San Marcos cut the Longhorn lead to 28-10 late in the third quarter when Garcia hit senior tight end Matt Dixon underneath and he took it 19 yards for the score.
Garcia found Madgett on his first touchdown of the night on an 83-yard pass to get within 28-17 early in the fourth quarter. San Marcos’ senior quarterback found Madgett deep again on a 70-yard reception to bring the score to 28-23. The Rattlers attempted a two-point conversion but didn’t find the endzone.
United picked up two key first downs in the waning seconds of Friday’s game to escape with the 28-23 win.
“I thought both sides of the ball came out in the second half ready to play,” Soto said. “And then once they tasted a little blood then they started to get after it. You know, you can’t do that from the beginning. You can’t do that in the third quarter.”
Garcia finished the night with 279 passing yards and three touchdowns on 16 completions. Madgett tallied 153 yards and two touchdowns with his two receptions. Sophomore running back Benito Canales led the way on the ground with 66 yards rushing on 16 carries.
San Marcos begins District 26-6A competition next week against East Central (2-1) at Rattler Stadium on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Soto believes the team’s three non-district games have taught them well as they prepare for the Hornets.
“I think we've learned a lot of great things,” Soto said. “We’ve learned a lot of lessons. At the end of the day, we’re playing three quarters a game. I think when it when we play that fourth quarter, we're going to get that win.”
