The varsity football team lost to the Santa Clara High School Bruins 53-8 on Friday, September 7. Although the Eagles came out slow in the first half, the team was able to rally together in the second half with strong defense and a touchdown.

The first half was marked by a series of quick runs from the Bruins. The Eagles seemed unable to successfully tackle Santa Clara’s players multiple times throughout the game. Two punts by the Eagles in the first half led to quick touchdowns by Santa Clara as well. The Eagles were trailing 53-0 at halftime.

“The team at halftime got together,” senior Michael Andris said. “The players talked and something clicked with line because in the second half [junior] Lambie [Lanman] had time to let the ball go. In the third quarter we walked down the field eating eight minutes of clock time, and [if] we can do that all season this could be our only loss.”

The Eagles managed to tighten up their defense for the second half of the game. The Bruins were unsuccessful as the Eagles shut down further offensive advances, and senior Victor Galvez finally scored a touchdown for the Eagles to put Los Altos on the scoreboard. The game ended with a score of 53-8.

Despite today’s loss, the team has learned from their mistakes of the very first game of the season. The importance of keeping a strong offensive line to give quarterback Lambie the time he needs to throw will be a lesson that the team will be keeping for the rest of the season.

“Today’s loss will not affect us…because we now know what we have to do,” Michael said. “Without the jitters of game one, we hopefully will be able to execute.”