On Friday night, the SCHS Bruins roared onto the field and into the crisp, windy air to face their longtime rival, Wilcox High School.

Although the Bruins came in wanting to “unplug the Chargers,” they were unable to stop the Wilcox offense, losing the game 28-58.

Santa Clara’s night began badly. Santa Clara fumbled the ball on the first play, and Wilcox recovered it with good field position. Within only two minutes, the Bruins trailed 7-0.

Head coach Hank Roberts encouraged his team on the sidelines, repeating to them that there was still a lot of time left to turn the momentum around.

It was clear from the beginning that Santa Clara’s offense would be pass-oriented with their spread offense, but they started off slowly with multiple fumbles and dropped passes.

Throughout the game, Wilcox controlled both lines, rushing for 277 yards while only allowing 127 yards on defense.

Both teams shrewd sportsmanship as they went to the midline to shake hands. Although the game did not stay close for long, the stands stayed relatively full with a total attendance around 1,000 people.

After the game, Roberts was happy with his team’s performance and thought the team was capable of winning but lacked in execution. Roberts also mentioned that even with the relative unsuccessful passing game, the team would look to keep using the throwing game to set up the run.

According to Roberts, the Bruins will look to improve upon the shortcomings from Friday’s game. Next week is Santa Clara’s bye week, but the Bruins will be on the road facing Los Gatos High School in two weeks.

“We know what [Los Gatos] does – we just have to come out and execute,” quarterback Chris Brown said.