San Marcos High School Rattlers bounces back against Wagner, 52-13 

Jonathan Marin 

KTSW reporter  

CONVERSE, Texas- The San Marcos Rattlers dominantly toppled the Wagner Thunderbirds in a final score of 52-13 away on Friday. 

 Anticipation built throughout D.W. Rutledge Stadium for what was seemingly going to be an even match between two teams that were both coming off losses. The Rattlers, the previous week, losing to the Weiss Wolfpack, and the Thunderbirds losing to Dripping Springs. Both teams having something to prove. The game kicked off at 7:00 with the Rattlers kicking the ball off, and thus began a game that would end up being a tale of two halves. 

 The first quarter began with a bang as the T-Birds scored on the opening drive of the game in easy fashion, with the Rattlers’ defense not having an answer for the rushing offense of Wagner. On the opposite end of the ball, the Rattlers could not get anything going for the entire quarter. The moment Wagner got the ball back, they scored another rushing touchdown on the Rattlers near the end of the quarter; it seemed as if this would be the continued premise of the game. 

 Second quarter, the Rattlers’ dissatisfaction with the first quarter was almost palpable. Defensively, this became very clear. With about nine minutes left on the board, the Rattlers reasserted their dominance with a stop on 4th and 1, turning the ball over on downs. The Rattler side erupted as they knew this was a great first start in bouncing back from a two-score deficit. The defense continued to hold strong throughout the second quarter, but the offensive production could not find any hole to poke in the opposing side. That was until Quarterback Buck Steyn bullied his way into the endzone for a much-needed rushing touchdown to decrease the gap.  

 Going into halftime, the Rattlers were looking to build off the momentum they picked up in the second quarter. With the score being 7-13 the game was still more within reach. The third quarter kicked off, and we saw a beautiful touchdown pass to Aithan Benavidez go for another touchdown riding the wave of momentum from the previous quarter, and continue to ride they did as the defense came up huge for a turnover, which led to another touchdown pass!  

 This would start a long pattern of the T-Birds continuously turning the ball over and the Rattlers capitalizing on it. Buck Steyn began to simply pick apart Wagner’s Defense, consistently not letting up and using his legs through the entire quarter with three rushing touchdowns. 

 “We know what Buck can do, Buck’s never been the problem, so the O-Line coming around gave us the chance to see what Buck was made” said Head Coach John Walsh. 

 Coming into the fourth quarter, the score was 42-13. At this point, anything extra offensively was simply a luxury as the stats had more than piled on for the Rattlers, but the Rattlers would not relent through the last leg of the game in the slightest. The beginning of the quarter consisted of an explosive pick, and then proceeded to be followed by a beautiful deep ball to Jordan Lampkin! Increasing the substantial lead to 49-13, and then to top it all off, they had one last field goal kick, which was a punctuation mark on a dominant half. 

 “Just understanding we’re playing something much bigger than a win in D.W. Rutledge stadium, we’re playing for wins in November and December. Continuing to just get better and understanding that. We’re not going to be a selfish football team” said Walsh. 

 The Rattlers now look towards the future as they head home to face a tough roadblock in the form of an undefeated Lake Travis football team that should prove to be a serious test for the San Marcos High School Rattlers.