Rattlers Run Out of Gas in Loss to Wagner

By Solomon Nash 

SAN MARCOS, Texas– The San Marcos Rattlers hosted the Wagner Thunderbirds, Friday night for the third game of the 2024 football season where they fell to the San Antonio area school. 

The losing streak continues for the Rattlers as they are now 0-3 to start the 2024 campaign, as they were defeated by the Wagner Thunderbirds with a final score of 40-17. Despite the 23-point defeat, this is easily the best showing that the Rattlers have displayed all season- posting a season high in points.   

Wagner flashed their hard-nosed rushing attack on Friday night, finishing the night with 31 rushing attempts for 360 yards. The Thunderbirds had three different rushers with over 60 yards with senior running back William Reynolds leading the team with seven carries for 98 yards and a touchdown.  

Alongside Reynolds, senior quarterback Charles Mondy rushed for 65 yards on six carries completing the hat-trick with three touchdowns on the ground. Overall, the Thunderbirds scored six touchdowns on the ground as the Rattlers could not come up with a plan to stop the run.  

The Rattlers were finally able to get the offense going during the game with senior wide receiver Chase Curry going for over 100 all-purpose yards. Junior running back Donovan Garcia was also the workhorse of the night as he racked up over 100 yards on the ground on over 30 carries. 

Sophomore quarterback Kane Hernandez threw the ball more this game, completing ten passes for over 100 yards and a touchdown. 

 Rattlers Head Coach John Walsh spoke on the team’s development throughout the season. 

“We are a better football team than we were last week and the week before,” Walsh said. 

The Rattlers forced two fumbles in the third quarter but were unable to come away with points on both drives. It was a very physical game as Wagner and San Marcos both had players ejected from the game after the teams got into a heated scuffle on the sideline.  

Walsh told us what he told the team after the scuffle and penalty assessments. 

“We just [got to] play football,” Walsh said. “We’re playing stupid when we get those yellow flags and have to move backwards.” 

As the season goes on the Rattlers will continue to grow and try to end this losing streak. Having shown their best performance of the season so far, they hope to take the positives from this game and try to improve for the coming weeks of football left to be played.  

The Rattlers will travel to Austin to take on the Lake Travis Cavaliers on Thursday, September 19th at 7:30 PM. The Cavaliers are 3-0 on the season to date.