The Carlmont Scots lost a close game of 21-19 to the Terra Nova Tigers. On Sept. 3, varsity football played their first home game since the reopening of the school.
In the first quarter, Carlmont had trouble stopping Terra Nova’s offense. Within the first few minutes of the game, the Tigers were able to score a touchdown, making the score 7-0. However, John Hanna, a junior running back, was able to get the Scots a touchdown to close the first quarter. This tightened the score to 7-6. Eric Rado, Carlmont’s head coach, believed that the team did well in their first quarter despite the difficult start.
“I thought we came out a little bit slow, but we hit it on the second position with the touchdown; we matched theirs,” Rado said.
Leading into the second quarter, Terra Nova was able to land another touchdown. The Scots, unfortunately, had to punt the ball away halfway through the quarter. As the half was coming to a close, Carlmont called a timeout. However, they were unable to score before halftime.
Carlmont’s dance and cheerleading teams performed various routines to entertain the crowd while both football teams took a break at halftime.
Once the third quarter started, the Scots lost their chance at a touchdown and could not make it past the goal line on fourth down. In the scuffle, Kevin Jimenez, a Carlmont senior, got injured. After gaining possession again, Carlmont scored a second touchdown in the last five minutes of the quarter. This made the score 14-12, with Terra Nova keeping the tight lead.
The Tigers kicked off the fourth quarter with an almost 40-yard run. They followed up the impressive run with a touchdown and made the score 21-12. Similar to the first quarter, Carlmont struggled on defense. In a tense fight against the clock, Trevor Johnson, a junior wide receiver, made another touchdown in the game’s final minutes, but the Scots could not make another. Carlmont dropped the ball in the last 30 seconds and lost by two points.
According to Joshua Yglesias, a Carlmont senior, the end turned out better in terms of team coordination.
“We were making little mistakes at the beginning, with fumbles and unnecessary drawbacks, but we really picked it up around the end,” Yglesias said.
Another Carlmont senior, Antonio Castillo, agreed with Yglesias, believing that the team played well, considering Terra Nova is in a higher league than Carlmont.
“We have a couple of fixes to make, but this team is in a higher league,” Castillo said. “We stepped up and played a great game.”
Although they came away with a victory, Terra Nova’s head coach, Jason Piccolotti, saw improvements that his team could make.
“We had chances to make [the game] not so close, so that was frustrating,” Piccolotti said. “We won, though [and] that’s the main thing.”
