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Last night, the highly anticipated rivalry football game against the Mountain View Spartans ended in a devastating defeat as the Spartans trounced the Eagles with a final score of 6-34.  

The painful memories from the close loss of 20-23 to the Spartans last year were still fresh in the minds of many of those who came to watch the awaited matchup. Tension in the Los Altos crowd was palpable on the unusually hot September night. 

As for the players on the field, according to team captain junior Aaron Parker, their minds were clearly focused on the game at hand. They let the ugliness of rivalry competition fall to their fans. 

 “We’re not here to mess around,” Aaron said. “We’re really just focused on the record at the end of the night and we’re not focused on the name in front of their jersey.”

The Eagles were surprised by an immediate touchdown by the Spartans in the first few minutes of the game. After a series of rapid turnovers, the stands roared with cheers after Los Altos quickly recovered with a touchdown of their own.

Quarterback junior Charlie Kinne lobbed the scoring pass all the way from the 25-yard line, soaring over the field into the waiting hands of sophomore receiver Cole Rafferty. 

Despite missing the field goal, the air buzzed with hopeful energy while the score was suspended at 7-6.  

As the game progressed into the second quarter, the score continued in Mountain View’s favor. The Spartans scored a passing touchdown and later slipped past Los Altos’s defense as they ran the ball 65 yards into the endzone. 

“Mountain View is definitely one of the harder opponents and we have to step up to the challenge,” said wide receiver sophomore Cole Rafferty. 

The Spartans delivered the challenge all night, and the Eagle cheers laced with an undertone of desperation while they watched the points against them stack up. 

By the end of the second quarter, star quarterback Charlie got temporarily taken out for a calf injury from an awkward tackle. With the other quarterback senior Eric Jones out with a torn ACL, Aaron and Cole stepped up to switch off covering the quarterback position. 

The two players worked to hold up the offensive line mainly by using running plays until Charlie was able to rejoin the game in the third quarter. 

As the game drew to a close, the Spartans boasted yet another touchdown, breaking past Eagle defense and running 35 yards into the endzone.

Although defeat became imminent for Los Altos, the team’s persistence never wavered—Los Altos’s offensive line continued to drive the ball forward until the very last second.  

The Eagles walked off the field nursing the fresh wounds of their second consecutive defeat to Mountain View, with the distasteful knowledge that the so-called “plucking of the Eagles” would ring true after all. 

Yet Los Altos understands the importance of keeping their focus away from petty rivalries and respecting the knowledge that they came out and played their best for their school to see. 

“I have my boys’ back and my boys got my back,” Aaron said. “We’re going to do it as a team—football is not an individual sport.” 

Newly hired head coach Dave DeGeronimo knew long before the game that his team would treat this game with respect like any other, not letting the tension provoke unnecessary conflicts.   

“I think the team that keeps their composure when mistakes happen on the field is the team that’s going to come out victorious,” DeGeronimo said.