On a brisk November night, the Los Altos High School varsity football team fell to the hands of archrivals Mountain View by a score of 35-10. This loss leaves the Eagles with a 3-2 league record (4-5 overall) and a third place position in the El Camino League.

The first quarter was forgettable as both offenses seemed to find it hard to break down the opposition’s defense. Junior captain linebacker Max Higareda recovered a fumble from the Mountain View running back to give the Eagles great field position, but the offense was unable to capitalize. It seemed that even when opportunities arose, they were either missed or ruined by penalties.

“We came out excited and played great defensively first half,” senior defensive end Trevor Rodgers said. “We might have missed [some] opportunities, but we were doing well.”

With a persistent running game, the Eagles were able to find success early in the second quarter.  Led by senior captain running back Patrick Vargas, who had 100 total yards of offense on the night, the Eagles worked it down to Mountain View’s 8-yard line. However, the Eagles could not find a way into the endzone and were forced to settle for a 23-yard field goal from junior kicker Albin Mollerstedt, giving them a 3-0 lead at halftime

“We [just] couldn’t finish drives in the red zone” senior captain quarterback Kyle Gounod said. “We really shot ourselves in the foot.”

It turned out to be a game of two halves as the second half was open and fast-paced compared to the slow stagnate style of the first. Mountain View came out strong and quickly took over the lead with a 45-yard rushing touchdown to go up 7-3. Los Altos remained unfazed by the set back and drove the ball right down the field to the Mountain View 5-yard line. Just when it seemed Los Altos would retake the lead, a combination of a botched snap and a holding penalty brought the ball back to the Mountain View 25-yard line. This resulted in a missed difficult 42-yard field goal and yet another red zone trip without a touchdown.

“In the second half they came out and scored early,” Trevor said. “We had a tough time stopping them in the second half and struggled to get much going offensively.”

The Eagles defensive began to wear down in the fourth quarter as each Mountain View was gaining more and more yards. Mountain View was able to take advantage and scored another rushing touchdown to go up 14-3. The Eagles missed an opportunity to respond on a dropped pass on a potential touchdown and turned the ball over on downs. Mountain View refrained from taking their foot off the gas as they scored another rushing touchdown to take a commanding 21-3 lead. Los Altos was finally able to shake their red zone woes as senior wide receiver Cristobal Tejada caught a 5-yard touchdown pass to bring the score back to 21-10. However, this touchdown turned out to be just a consolation as the Mountain View running game was too potent for Los Altos, and they scored two more rushing touchdowns to finish the game off with a score of 35-10.

Nevertheless, the Eagles were thankful for all the support they received from the Los Altos crowd.

“[I just] want to say thank you for everyone that came out and supported,” Trevor said.

The players remain positive and are now looking to their next game in which they hope to improve.

“We [need] to use this game to fuel us for the next game and so forth,” senior wide receiver Bailey Thayer said. “The Eagles will always keep fighting until the end.”

Los Altos has their last game of the season at Santa Clara on November 11.