It’s not often that a team on a 21-game losing streak is picked to be a playoff team, much less a dark-horse district championship contender in a tough district that includes the likes of Cibolo Steele and Converse Judson. But the 2025 San Marcos Rattlers may be that rare team that fits the bill.

On October 13, 2022, the UIL State Executive Committee (SEC) ruled that 11 football players from San Marcos High School were ineligible for the next three seasons. While, the Rattlers were able to make the playoffs in 2022, they've taken their lumps ever since, including losing 23 of their next 24 games with most of those being lopsided losses.

Regardless of your personal feelings with the UIL’s ruling two-and-a-half years ago, the fact that 10 of the 11 players stayed is quite impressive. Their commitment to San Marcos and the coaching staff through an unprecedented ruling speaks volumes.

“Ten of those young men stayed, one graduated this year and nine will be seniors in the fall of 2025," San Marcos head coach John Walsh said. "I understand the UIL’s stance, and when the UIL ruling was made all those kids had a chance to go back to the schools where they were eligible.

“Three years is a long time. I would have totally understood if they left, but they chose to stay. I’ve watched their sacrifice for the past three years and they’ve stuck it out, they have sacrificed for their brothers and they’ve turned into San Marcos Rattlers along the way.”

While this group has been dominant during the period of the last two years (San Marcos’ junior varsity teams have rolled up an undefeated record with nearly every game being a blowout), they have yet to play a varsity football game. Walsh knows that despite the talent (five seniors who have never played varsity football currently hold FBS offers), overcoming adversity on the field is inevitable.

“As a coach, all you can do is paint the picture," Walsh said. "I’ve tried to paint a picture of how tough it is going to be playing 6A football. They’ve been dominant their entire lives in football; failure is something they’ve never had to deal with. That’s why we scheduled teams like Lake Travis and (Pflugerville) Weiss in non-district to get them ready. Our schedule is going to teach them some lessons. We are going to find ourselves in games our kids aren’t used to, and I can’t wait to see how they react and respond to adversity. I’m that weird coach that doesn’t mind losing in the regular season and teaching tough lessons on Saturday mornings. The goal is to be ready for the first round of the tournament.”

There’s no question the 2025 edition of San Marcos Football will be the most unique ever. The only thing left is to see where the chips fall.

“There’s going to be a lot of eyes on us," Walsh said. "There was a lot of publicity three years ago and it died down, but it’s picking back up because people know how good these kids can be. They have one shot at this deal. We’ve got to come out swinging. We aren’t trying to sneak into the back door. We want to come in through the front and hit the ground running.”