On Thursday Sept. 26, 2024, the SCHS Bruins football team faced off against their local rival, Wilcox High School. Coming off a tough loss to Terra Nova High School the previous week, Santa Clara made big adjustments before the highly-anticipated game.
Wilcox got off to a hot start, scoring two touchdowns within the first seven minutes of the game. Plagued by penalties, fumbles and an interception, the Bruins struggled to capitalize on any opportunity to get back in the game. Although head football coach Nelson Gifford recognized the mistakes, he views them as moments to grow.
“You can’t go backwards,” Gifford said. “You need to play a perfect game. We didn’t play a perfect game, and you don’t win, so what does that mean? It just means you go back to practice and you figure out ways to reduce those mistakes by 1-2%, and if we can do that progressively through the season, we might find ourselves in a really good spot.”
After prevalent struggles in their offense over the previous two games, the SCHS coaches decided to implement a new scheme three days before the Wilcox game. Changes included the utilization of two new quarterbacks, senior Damien Lopez and senior Tayshawn Reed, in order to expand the run game. Although questionable to some, nose guard junior Vince Topete embraces the change.
“Personally, I believe that our coaches know absolutely what’s best for us,” Topete said. “I think they analyzed that game. They saw the film. They knew what happened. They were there on that field, and then they went over the weekend, they made the choices, they implemented new game plans, things that’ll help us be more successful against the opponent.”
With a final score of 42-0, the Bruins look to put this game behind them. On the road next week against Woodside High School, tight end and middle backer senior Hamzah Punjsheri is focused on the future.
“I think we know who we are as a team now, because this is pre-league, so we’ve got everything down,” Punjsheri said. “We’ve got to go next week and start running it up (the score).”
Although Wilcox continues to dominate the rivalry, some feel the game continues to show it is more than just the final score.
“It’s about the community coming together – kids who know each other from all these games over the years – and you see it after the game, guys taking pictures together, families that know each other,” Gifford said. “It’s a community building opportunity. So I love the game, and I can’t wait till next year.”
Anonymous • Oct 9, 2024 at 3:10 pm
The Head Coach has to go! way too much talent on this team to be playing this badly. very sad to see how many kids have left the program due to coaching just to go be successful across town, many of the kids on the Wilcox team now were supposed to be Bruins