On Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m., the bright stadium lights broke through the light fog , illuminating the Redwood Giants and San Rafael (SR) Bulldogs, both eager to take home a win. The football game ended in Redwood advancing their season record to 5-4 with a blowout score against SR of 50-7.
The game began as senior Alex Aguero ran off right tackle for the first touchdown of the game with five minutes left in the first quarter. Redwood completed the two-point conversion to extend their lead to eight points. On the next drive, San Rafael’s junior Drew Caveney rushed the left wing for a touchdown which was followed by an extra point from senior Edwin Zacaris to cut the lead to 8-7.
Aguero continued to score for Redwood throughout the rest of the first quarter with another touchdown with four minutes remaining and another run for a touchdown with 12 seconds left. With just two minutes and 39 seconds before the end of the quarter, junior receiver Alex Hagen caught a tight pass through the SR defense from junior quarterback Matthew Smalbach. The energy was high, but Hagen kept focused.
“I’m just trying not to get a flag. I’m super hyped up, but I have to think about not putting our team in a bad situation [while] still getting excited with my team,” Hagen said.
The second quarter began with another touchdown pass from Smalbach to Hagen. Then, Aguero scored another touchdown with four minutes to go in the half. With the Giants’ comfortable lead of 44-7, Aguero was taken out of the game to minimize chance of injury.
According to Aguero, he not only tries to improve upon his own game but support that of his teammates as well.
“I try to encourage my teammates to play their best and make sure they are always on top of it. I try to lead by example: being the first one at practice, the first one getting ready for games,” Aguero said.
Throughout the third and fourth quarters, the score stayed relatively the same with Redwood taking the win 50-7. Coach Allen Talley said that he looks for his players to keep working hard even if they are on a winning streak.
“[Our goal is] to win the next game, play week by week, make it to the playoffs, get a chance to win the pennant, extend the season as far as we can take it,” Talley said.
According to Talley, the biggest challenge for the team is getting over mistakes and losses.
“We can’t beat ourselves up. Some games we play bad as a whole, and [when] that happens, we just have to fight through adversity. As long as we do that as a team [the season] will be alright,” Talley said.
Talley mentioned that he loves coaching because of the experience and the relationships that he has created over the years with his players.
“The greatest part about being is a coach is being a part of these kids lives. That’s the best thing about it. That’s the enjoyment,” Talley said.
The Giants will next face the Drake Pirates at home on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 2pm.
