Rattlers fall in 42-41 overtime thriller with Thunderbirds

San Marcos was one play away against Wagner.

The Rattlers battled back after being down 10 with just over five minutes left in the game, starting with a 39-yard connection from senior quarterback Isaiah DeLeon to junior receiver Kutter Gage Webb. The purple and white drove down the field until it was fourth and goal on the three-yard line, where senior h-back Jake Rodriguez-Scholz would punch in a three-yard touchdown run. Scholz had some big runs throughout the night for San Marcos, but no play was bigger than number 27 diving for the onside kick conversion and recovering — giving the Rattlers immediate life.

The purple and white methodically drove down the field using up the rest of their remaining timeouts while also draining the clock. A pass over the middle from DeLeon to junior receiver Tony Diaz to convert on fourth and sixteen was the drive’s most significant play. The Rattlers got down to the two-yard line with under a minute left and ran the ball twice — attempting to score in the same fashion they had earlier in the game — but were stopped by the Thunderbirds at the goal line on both runs. Two late timeouts from Wagner helped San Marcos stop the clock, which was crucial to giving the Rattlers one more shot at a walk-off score in regulation.

The purple and white couldn’t get the look they wanted though, forcing DeLeon to throw the ball away on third down. That called on the Rattlers' field goal unit which looked a little different in week three. Junior kicker Joseph Mendoza was injured last week, leading senior defensive back Matthew Flores to take on the kicking duties mid-season. Flores kept his cool though, making every PAT and nailing the game-tying field goal from 27 yards out with 33 seconds on the clock.

Pure elation ran through the San Marcos sideline. Being down double-digits late felt like a long time ago.

The Rattlers stuffed the Thunderbirds on their next two offensive plays with two tackles for loss to send the game to overtime. Wagner would win the toss, electing to play defense first. On their first set of downs of their possession, San Marcos once again found themselves a must-have fourth and one. Senior running back Jaidyn Brown would get the job done, converting with outstretched hands. DeLeon would find a hole to the outside on the next play, running in for an 11-yard score to give the purple and white a 41-34 lead.

Wagner scored on the first play of their possession, then called timeout after the offense hung around on the field for a while. The Thunderbirds decided to go for two and the win — meaning the game came down to one play. Wagner faked an inside handoff before tossing to a ball carrier on an outside sweep, leaving a wide-open lane for the Thunderbirds who converted to win 42-41 in overtime.

“If we’d have lost that game in overtime not with the effort, but just the self-inflicted penalties — we had three turnovers, two on offense and one on special teams, and some just drive-killing penalties — I'd be real upset right now,” head coach John Walsh said. “But (in) the fourth quarter, we clawed back (and) we got some stops. We scored, got an onside kick, scored (again and) got in overtime and then scored in overtime. Had the big field goal with a new kicker (Matthew Flores) — our kicker got hurt last week. So a new kicker made the shot, and a lot of good things (happened). Really, in a non-district ballgame if I'm gonna lose it, I feel fine because I think we battled back and I'm proud of the boys. You know, defensively, not having (senior edge rusher) Ja’Kwavius Simmons is a big deal. Not having (senior defensive lineman) AJ Perez is a big deal, and then losing (senior safety John) Vega in the first quarter is (also) a big deal. So I'm proud of how they fought back without three starters.”

The Rattlers still didn’t play to their highest potential offensively with penalties, dropped catches, turnovers and setbacks throughout the game — but they did move the ball at their highest clip of the season, leading to their season-high 41 points.

“We protected better. We all know Isaiah can throw the football, so if we protect he's going to have confidence in throwing the football,” Walsh said. “We know Tony's a weapon. I think if we’ve got to do anything else, we’ve got to distribute the ball more. I know (Kutter Gage Webb) made a big catch. Kutter’s got to get the ball more. We just got to get it across the field a little more so Tony just doesn’t get bracketed all night long.”

San Marcos will make their longest road trip of the season to face off with Laredo Alexander on Sept. 16 with kickoff set for 7 p.m. at the Bill Johnson Student Activity Center. In a new schedule with five non-district matchups, Walsh is focusing on taking advantage of the extra time to continue focusing on his team’s improvement week to week.

“We just got to correct the self-inflicted (mistakes). The penalties are killing us, you know, we haven't been turning the ball over. I don't think we're gonna mess up there anymore. But we've just got to be smarter football players. We're doing things differently in practice and I think they're helping us, but it didn't help tonight in the first half because we should have been up at least a score and got the ball to (start) the second half.”