The Magazine Sr High Rattlers have hit the endgame of their 2020 football season. On November 20, after prosperously making it to the second round of the 2A State Tournament, the Rattlers were defeated 34-15 by the Foreman Gators. The previous week, Magazine overpowered Hazen 44-22 in a first-round of State epic comeback victory. Although the Magazine Rattlers are saying “Arrivederci!” to their season, they finished with a 7-3 overall record and 5-1 in conference play.
“We had a great season this year,” exclaimed head coach, Ryan Chambers. “We endured a really tough four-game stretch to begin conference play and to come out 3-1 in those four games was big for us. We played a big back and forth game with Hector which really got the momentum going for the rest of the season. We did have some lows as well. We had some injuries to begin the year going into our first game of the season which resulted in a loss that I felt we should have been more competitive in. That was a big wake up call for some of the seniors on the team and they turned around and came through in a big way. The season very easily could have taken a turn for the worse and just snowballed but they came back the next week, got it back on track, and didn’t slow down. The only hiccup was a loss against a good Bigelow team.”
For the Rattler’s final shootout of the football season against Foreman, QB, Tatum Scott, ended the match with 4/9 passes for 91-yards and 2 TDs. Kobe Faughn made 15 rushes for 56-yards including 1 PAT while Scott grabbed 9 rushes for 54-yards. Ashton Droemer bagged 3 receptions for 79-yards, 1 TD, and 2 punts for 64-yards and Austin “KABOOM” Krigbaum gained a 12-yard reception for a touchdown. Trace Nicolas kicked for an extra point. And for the kick return department, Droemer brought in 2 for 97-yards, James Haugh reaped 1 for 9-yards, and William King secured one for 4-yards.
Defensively in the tackling territory, Faughn led with 13 followed by Nicolas with 8, Cameron Mattson with 7, King and Haugh with 6 each, Cole Gilbert with 5, Terrence Thurman with 4, Dakota Pack, Droemer, and “KABOOM” Krigbaum with 2 apiece, and at one each was Scott, Cameron Raggio, Landon Cox, Connor Ryan, and A.J. Malouf. The Rattlers will be seeing six seniors moving on to greener pastures. Brad Price (who had to sit out during the last game against Foreman due to an injury sustained in the Hazen battle), Cameron Raggio, Kobe Faughn, William King, Cole Gilbert, and Tatum Scott.
Senior Quarterback, Tatum Scott, will miss many things from his high school football career but one thing aside from having the satisfaction of playing with my teammates will be the noise of the crowd. “Nothing is better than the feeling of walking out on the field to cheering fans on a cold Friday night,” explained Scott. Although Tatum played football in kindergarten, he really didn’t get his career going until the third grade. His love for the game was kicked off by his dad, Rattler legend, Joshua Scott. “In the beginning, my dad was the one who gave me the passion for football. He had me in the yard at age 3 throwing bombs and having me run and catch! As the years went by, I watched former Arkansas Razorback, Darren McFadden, and that is also one of the main reasons I am number 5 today! He was one of the most explosive players Arkansas has ever had, and he motivated me to play!”
“There were many different amazing football moments in my life, but the best ones were from playing Hackett my 10th and 11th-grade year. In my 10th grade year, we were losing by 12 in the 4th quarter. As the crowd began to give up, Caleb Hyatt, who graduated last year, ran an 80-yard touchdown out of nowhere and put us at 6-12. We then stopped them and I ran a 12-yard TD to tie it up! The game went into overtime and we stopped them on 4th and inches. We were on our last play and scored beating them 18-12. And my 11th-grade year was just an awesome game. I had 4 TDs for 156-yards and 2 interceptions which resulted in a final winning score of 44-12!” After high school graduation, Tatum plans on either attending college or joining the Navy to be a Corpsman. “Hopefully soon I will figure out my future plans! In 10 years, I see myself either in the military working to support my family and this country, or somewhere in my hometown, supporting my Rattlers, and maybe even coaching them!”
In conclusion, Coach Chambers added, “In preparation for next year, we need to have a big offseason in the weight room with some of these returners. We are bringing back 3 of 5 offensive linemen along with a 1000-yard rusher. There are some kids in school that didn’t play this past season that we are hoping will show up and help us out. Our goal is to try and improve our numbers on the senior high team. Plus we have a quality junior high group coming through that can be very good in a few years who we will really be trying to develop into great players!”
Photos courtesy of Amber Canada Photography
