JV football beats LG (again) to cap off winning season

While the varsity football team wrapped up a dismal 1-9 season, the JV team exceeded expectations once again, going 7-3 highlighted by a final home win against Los Gatos on Nov 3.

For the past two years now, the JV team has defeated Los Gatos — last year in a game that came down to the wire, and this year the Falcons led the whole way.

“It feels great to beat Los Gatos two years in a row because we’re proving to our community that our football program is real,” said sophomore wide receiver George Bian, one of the team’s captains. “I feel like we are bringing the program back because for the past decade or so, football hasn’t been respected very much.”

This year, the Falcons came into the game against the Wildcats looking both to repeat their win from last year and end their two-game losing streak.

Led by sophomore captain quarterback Payton Stokes, the Falcons struck first with a 62-yard touchdown pass to Bian. The Wildcats countered with a touchdown of their own, but the Falcons came back with another 39-yard touchdown pass to Bian to put them back up 7.

In the second quarter, the Falcons continued to score with a 65-yard touchdown pass to sophomore captain wide receiver Max Muilenberg. The defense was able to hold the Wildcats scoreless until the end of the second quarter when broken coverage led to a Wildcat touchdown.

Throughout the third quarter, the Falcons and Wildcats traded touchdowns again, when Stokes threw a quick pass to freshman wide receiver Kelly Huesby for a score. In the fourth quarter, a 48-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Ryan Gilligan put the Falcons up 16. On the Wildcats ensuing drive, with 2 minutes left, Stokes intercepted a pass, sealing the victory.

“Our big-time players came up big in the end,” Stokes said.

Before their victory over Los Gatos, however, the Falcons also faced adversity. Although they went 4-0 in the preseason, they lost 41-34 to Milpitas on Sept. 22.

In a close game where the Falcons led by 8 at halftime, the two teams battled it out until the end when Milpitas went ahead by 7.

Wilcox and Palo Alto were also tough losses for the Falcons. In both games, the Falcons were down by only one point at halftime. In both games, the opposing team outscored the Falcons in the third quarter and the Falcons could not recover.

Despite these three losses, the JV team felt great about their season.

“Coming into the season, with our small numbers and small size, I didn’t really believe we could accomplish much,” Bian said. “But by the end of the season, I realized size and numbers doesn’t matter when it comes to the brotherhood of our team. Since we played as a family, we were able to conquer anything.”

Both Bian and Stokes hope that this success will carry over to varsity and translate more wins.

“I think it’s good having confidence going into varsity and I’m excited to play with the incoming seniors,” Stokes said.

Bian hopes that the victories over Los Gatos will inspire the JV players to return to the team next year — historically, many have quit the team before their junior or senior years.

“Although it feels good to beat Los Gatos two years in a row, I still want to beat them two more years,” Stokes said.