Los Banos Tigers come into their first round playoff game at home with a 8-2 record. They were looking to beat Buhach Colony, a 4-6 team, to advance to the second round. Uniformly, Tigers moved up to division 4 and Buhach got moved down to division 4. The Tigers did come out of the WAC league undefeated and was looking to remain strong with a win over Buhach. In the end, the score of this game was 64-48, and Buhach came out on top. 

Offensive player of the year junior QB David Herra said, “Going into the game I felt like we really had the opportunity to win. I felt that overall as a unit that we were the better team and there’s no doubt that we were. We just got outplayed and didn’t give our full potential. I was hyped to be hosting the first round of playoffs as the environment was just going to be so solid with our student section and everything. And it’s also been a while since Los Banos hosted a playoff game, so it was cool that we earned it.  Most definitely coming after halftime, I believe we came back and made it a one point game and we had the momentum going, but our defense was unable to stop their run game like they should have. The worst part of the game in my opinion was the flags that made my big runs get called back causing us to punt. The defense wasn’t able to stop them at all, but our offense was rolling and was the only opportunity that we had to win that game. The best part of the game was just the fact that our offense kept responding to their touchdowns and also when we came back and made it 40-41.”

Going into the second half, down one score, the Tigers were still feeling confident.  The Tigers scored first, then recovered an onside kick, which really got the momentum going.

Offensive line Jose Esquivel said, “I was excited and anxious to start to play. I was really excited to be playing at home on my first playoff game. The entire time I felt like we could have won the game. The worst part of the game was definitely losing at the end. My favorite part was playing alongside my brothers.”

Second Team all league Jackson Silva responded, “Going into the game I was confident, but knew we had to be on our A game in order to win. I was excited but also very nervous since it put more pressure on us. I felt that we were going to win the game if our defense stepped up. The worst part of the game was how much Buhach was running on us. The best part was when we scored and then returned an onside kick.”

Although the Tigers high hopes were eventually disappointed, they did not go out without a fight.  The Tigers may have fallen short on this foggy Friday, but they did not go out without a fight. 

After the game, despite the loss, the Tigers experienced a bittersweet moment.  The tears, hugs, and cheers from the crowd, reminded the Tigers how far they had come and how memorable their season had been.