San Marcos ready for rematch with New Braunfels

It’s mostly a mental game now.

Eight weeks into the season, San Marcos doesn’t need to focus as much on the physical side of the game. Most teams are in tip-top shape by now, including the Rattlers. It’s difficult to find an edge off of strength and speed alone.

The advantages have to come through the mental game.

“We’ve been working on the mental approach,” head coach Mark Soto said. “Staying in a game in that last four minutes of the second quarter, so that way they’re not scoring on us and getting a late touchdown in the first half. Those are the types of things that we’re working on.”

San Marcos’ mental toughness will be put to the test this week when New Braunfels comes to town. The Rattlers and Unicorns share a few similarities. They’re both disciplined teams and they’re both well-coached. 

They’ve also both had their struggles this season.

But Soto is fairly familiar with New Braunfels. Though this is the first time since 2013 the two teams are in the same district, this will be the fifth time the Rattlers have faced the Unicorns since Soto arrived in 2012.

“The No. 1 thing is we haven’t beaten them in a while,” Soto said. “So, there’s some motivation right there to be the team that beats them. We’ve come close, I was just telling the kids, we’ve come close twice … So, (we have) just the motivation of ‘Hey, we need to get this W because we haven’t beaten them in a while.”

Soto thinks his team will be ready.

“I think we’re going to have to play just as disciplined as they are,” Soto said. “And we’re going to have to play a little bit more desperately as they are. In other words, we’ve got to understand what the situation is. This game matters. We’re not out of the playoff race yet. This game matters, and we need to understand that.”

San Marcos (1-6, 0-4) hosts New Braunfels (2-5, 1-3) on Friday inside San Marcos Toyota Rattler Stadium at 7:30 p.m.