San Marcos hosts defending state champion Westlake

There’s no time to sulk about having one of the toughest district openings in the state. Following a 58-3 loss to No. 8 Lake Travis, San Marcos (1-2, 0-1 District 26-6A) turns around and faces even stiffer competition when No. 4 Austin Westlake (3-0, 0-1) comes to town this Friday.

It’s a rematch between Chaparrals head coach Todd Dodge and new Rattlers head coach John Walsh, who met in last year's 6A Division II state championship where Dodge’s Westlake defeated Walsh’s Denton Guyer, 24-0. Granted, Walsh was without starting junior quarterback Eli Stowers for most of the game.

The defending state champs have had no problems racking up points. The Chaparrals scored at least 50 points in all but two district games in 2019 and kicked off district play in 2020 with a 58-0 win over Del Valle last Friday.

Westlake has done it by perfecting complementary football, putting up 262 passing yards per game aside it’s 225 rushing yards per game. They have options from top to bottom starting on the outside with sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse, who already has 17 receptions for 261 yards and three touchdowns. That's complemented by a pair of senior running backs in Zane Minors and Grey Nakfoor, who’ve posted a combined for 51 carries and 447 yards.

San Marcos struggled to move the ball down the field after its first drive on against Lake Travis on Friday night and it may be another tough week on offense for the hosts.

Westlake sports the state champion defensive MVP, senior cornerback Michael Taaffe, who may affect where the Rattlers are going to move the ball.

“He's a very good one … he's very talented. It's a very talented team and we know exactly where he's at,” offensive coordinator Lee Vallejo said. “We're gonna try to just play ball but yeah, if there’s a chance to go away from him then, yes, we might do that.”

Rattlers junior running back Kanui Guidry, after recording 450 rush yards in his first two games, was limited to 23 yards on the ground against Lake Travis last week. The junior has gained the respect of his opponents and is expected to see stacked boxes against him in every game. 

He talked about what it means to see eight and nine man boxes from the top teams and what it's going to take to avoid Westlakes tacklers.

“It just means they know I can make plays,'' Guidry said. “I mean, my (offensive) line, they can block. So, it doesn't matter how much they can play in the box, my line can block them and we can always move the ball. 

“(It takes) shiftiness. If they can’t catch you, they can't tackle you. That’s always the motto I go by.”

Guidry is still managing over 7.5 yards per carry this season and he’ll need every bit of his shiftiness to avoid getting stuffed at the line and keep Westlake’s offense off of the field. 

San Marcos has been pushing the offense to get 2.6 yards per play. The game plan resulted in multiple fourth down attempts. The offense only completed two of its fourth down attempts which put them in bad field position. Walsh and his offense believe in the team on fourth down but that is a crucial point of emphasis against the top teams in the state.

“If we have a chance at 4th and 1, we gotta convert,” Vallejo said. “It’s a fresh set of downs and gets those guys thinking some more and we just hurt ourselves last week early on with that. Obviously, the score got out of hand there but we gotta convert those 4th and 1’s.”

Kickoff is scheduled inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium at 7:30 p.m. This marks the first home district game for San Marcos since Nov. 11 of last season.