As the 2024 football season came to an end for the SCHS Bruins, the team reflected on the season, and many are looking forward to next year. Despite the 4-6 record, team members came out of the year with a positive outlook.
Even with the Bruins having an under .500 record, many on the team feel the season was an educational experience. Wide receiver and safety, senior Gabe Chavez, acknowledged the important lessons he learned from this season.
“We learned a lot about ourselves,” Chavez said. “This is the second year now with Coach Giff, so I think we learned (to be) more comfortable in his system.”
Despite the quarterback carousel the team experienced, Chavez was able to finish the year with multiple touchdowns, and the team’s coaches were able to maintain dependability among their athletes.
“Although (the quarterback position) did change throughout the year, I think it was just nice to have consistency with the coaches,” Chavez said.
Coach Adrian Castillo was one the coaches who stayed consistently motivated throughout the season. The third-year coach experienced many challenges this season but still enjoyed working with the team.
“I got challenged a lot this year, as far as not only how I teach and how I understand the game, but trying to figure out how the players understand the game and merging those two together,” Castillo said. “Those were some unique challenges this year, but they were fun opportunities.”
When reflecting on the season, Castillo recalled the Bruins’ homecoming game victory against Fremont, his favorite game of the season.
“When we played Fremont, we had some ups and downs, but we were able to persevere,” Castillo said. “They had beat us last year, so it was a nice game to kind of get back at them.”
Though the Bruins had victories, they had their share of losses. Coaches and players alike agreed that their worst loss was to Wilcox High School, their hometown rivals. Despite the 42-0 defeat, the Bruins were able to learn from it.
Chavez sees the losses as learning experiences and positive lessons to take with him after he graduates.
“Learning how to come back from losses – I think taking big losses and learning how to bounce back and get better – I’ll definitely take it into my adulthood,” Chavez said.
Castillo wants the seniors to take the lessons they learned and connect with them, benefiting their daily lives in the future.
“Understanding that building a community beyond the sport – that you’re building a community amongst your brothers and that brotherhood and building those values and traditions and connections – that will take you beyond,” Castillo said.
While the football team will lose 21 seniors, they have a large crop of sophomores ready to make the jump to varsity. Coach Castillo is looking forward to the new array of talent the varsity roster will be getting next season.
“For sure we got the opportunity to bring up the sophomores through the lack of filling the schedule. We’ve been able to see that talent that’s going to be here for next year, kind of scoping that out. They show a lot of enthusiasm, motivation and hard work, which are all things that build a good program,” Castillo said. “We’re really excited as a staff to work with those young men.”
