DP and LB clash at first football game for season

Students+in+the+Tiger+Pride+section+rally+for+the+start+of+the+football+season.

Alex Caloca

Students in the Tiger Pride section rally for the start of the football season.

Alex Caloca, Staff Reporter

Dos Palos week against Tigers is always a big deal for the football players and the town itself.

The Los Banos Tigers have beaten Dos Palos for the last eight years, but that changed this year. The Tigers had an upsetting loss against DP 35-40 in the last minutes of the game. Although, Tigers did not come out on top with the win they had all the support from our Tiger student section throughout the whole game. It was one of the best turnouts for a home game.

Tigers were putting up a good fight throughout the whole game but in the fourth quarter, starting QB Conner Cascia went down with an injury involving his knee which has been a problem throughout football season. Also, Tigers had a hard time getting their momentum back after one of their captains went down but still made some plays towards the end of the game. A turnover in the fourth quarter allowed DP to get a touchdown in the last minutes of the game. Tigers could not answer back with the short amount of time they had in the fourth quarter.

Captain, Rolan Lawson, 12 who plays wide receiver and strong safety. Lawson said some changes he is going to make for next game are to “Work as a team and don’t get down on someone when they make a bad play.”

He wants his team to learn that they have each others back on the field and to not give up throughout the whole game. Lawson has been playing football since freshman year and he is now onto his last year.

Another captain, Conner Cascia, 12 who has been playing since freshman year is the starting quarterback.  He says that his personal goals for this season are to be a good leader, set a good example for his team and try getting them all involved in the game as much as he can. When asked if there are any changes he would make for the next game, he said, “Something I’d change for our next game is be more productive on defense and try to get every stop we can.”

Cascia says some weaknesses on the team they can work on is, “Not enough people put in hard work, not many players have the confidence so that’s something we should improve in the season.” Although Cascia has been out the last week, he thinks the team can do something special this season.

Win or lose, our football players know Tiger Nation has their back and support.  Come out and cheer the team tonight against Patterson.