On Saturday November 11 on Clifford Field at South San Francisco High School, both the JV and Varsity Colts lost to the rival South City Warriors with JV losing 26-8, and the Varsity team losing 28-14. The two games were strikingly similar with both Colt teams down late in the second half, but putting up points on the scoreboard too late to turn the tide.

In the JV “little bell” game, the JV Colts were scoreless until the fourth quarter. Down 26-0 the JV Colts fought back during their final drive. “They showed a lot of heart,” senior El Camino Adrienne Gomez said, “They didn’t quit.”

The JV Warriors’ defense did a very good job of stopping the essential run for the JV Colts. They shut down elite running backs Devin Kelly and Brandon Nichols, forcing El Camino to punt numerous times throughout the game. With the running game shut down, the coaches turned to their freshman quarterback Robert Roman. During their final drive, the JV Colts went with an aerial attack, where sophomore wide receiver Anthony Hernandez came up with a huge play to give El Camino a first down and great field position. That play led Roman to a touchdown pass to Kelly. The coaches felt the South City secondary had been torn up by this drive, and decided to attempt to go for a two-point conversion. The Colts once again put the ball in the end zone to convert for two points making the final score 26-8 Warriors.

Reflecting upon the JV Colts’ performance Coach Archie Junio stated, “It’s sad because a lot of the kids worked hard. It was a struggle because they [South City] have a lot of players that are [more] physically built compared to our team.”

The story with the Varsity Colts was no different, except for the fact that they scored twice off the legs of junior quarterback Gerald Maranan. With the Varsity Colts being plagued by poor tackling all year, South City helped themselves to four touchdowns, one of which came off a 70 yard punt return.

Although down late in the second half, the Colts stayed tough. The Colts recovered a total of three onside kicks in the game. In the red zone, Maranan took over and scrambled into the end zone for one of his two rushing touchdowns. During the Colt’s final drive, South City began celebrating while the Colts continued to play hard. A last second pass from Maranan was violently swatted down by a South City defender, and the game came to an abrupt end.

Although South City is in a higher division, it was still a decent battle. The Varsity Colt defense kept the South City score relatively low in the first half, with most of the points coming after halftime. The Colts did make a last ditch effort to show that they still had Colt Pride left in them and didn’t give up. On another note, the shotgun offense that was put midway through the season worked relatively well. The Colts went with a four receiver, one running back set that forced the Warriors to respect the passing game. This set up both of Maranan’s rushing touchdowns as the El Camino offensive line blocked well to give Maranan the necessary hole he needed to dash for the score. The game was close and filled with emotion, but in the end, the Warriors came away victorious with a score of 28-14.