Rattlers head to House Park to play Austin High

Junior running back Kanui Guidry’s 680 yards from scrimmage led San Marcos through the first half of the 2020 season. Now, the Rattlers will have to learn to adjust without him.

Guidry was helped off the field during the fourth quarter of last week’s home game against Buda Hays, struggling to put weight on his left leg, and did not return. San Marcos head coach John Walsh said the severity of his injury hasn’t been determined yet, but that Guidry has been ruled out for this week’s game at Austin High.

“When you lose a player like that — you know, he's one of those game-breaker type of kids — we're gonna have more hands on deck now,” offensive coordinator Lee Vallejo said. “So we're gonna have some other guys in there … it's gonna be hard to replace but we're going to try our best.”

One of the players the Rattlers plan to turn to is sophomore Jake Rodriguez-Scholz, who his coaches affectionately refer to as “Scholzy.” The running back carried the ball six times against Hays after Guidry’s departure, picking up 34 yards and scoring his first touchdown of the season from one yard out on 4th and Goal.

Scholzy is now up to 82 yards on 17 carries for the year, a 4.8-yard average across three games against teams who all reached the postseason in 2019.

“I'm really not as fast as Kanui is, so I had to really have to depend on my power. So really getting downhill and running people over is my specialty,” Scholzy said. “And when I do, they remember it.”

“Scholzy's been a phenomenal back,” Vallejo said. “I know y'all saw him last week, but he's more of a north-and-south runner. You know, he has a one-cut rule out there, so he likes it and is a physical back. So I think we're going to see some good things out of Scholzy.”

San Marcos will have to try to match the firepower the Maroons bring as the No. 3 offense in the district. Austin High is led by senior quarterback Charles Wright, who committed to Texas in August. 

Vallejo said the best way to defend the high-powered unit is to keep them on the sidelines, which involves the Rattlers being able to move the chains and string together long drives. That responsibility can’t all fall on Scholzy’s shoulders though. Walsh said he plans to rotate some of the team’s linebackers into the backfield to give the purple and white a different look on offense at times. Senior linebacker Moses Alva proved effective in a test-run last week, gaining 29 yards on four totes against Hays.

But Walsh said he wants to see improvements in other areas on offense as well.

“I'm not a guy that's gonna hide behind anything, the kids know I don't hide behind anything and, you know, our offensive linemen play well. And it wasn't just one guy, it was bits and pieces that didn't allow us to get in the end zone,” Walsh said. “It wasn't a physical thing, it was just an assignment thing. And why those things happen at the high school level, you don't know. But I want their assignments to be on point.”

San Marcos (1-4, 0-3 district) takes on Austin High (3-1, 2-1) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. inside House Park. Walsh said the team knows it’s fighting for its playoff life in the second half of the season. But its got the players locking in during practice.

“We gotta start the tempo. Once we start the tempo, we can shut them down,” Scholzy said. “Our defense is pretty solid, so once we catch a groove on them, we're going to keep it going.”