On Oct. 6, 2022 the Southwestern College stadium was filled with disappointed players and supporters after the Bonita Vista High (BVH) Barons were met with a close loss against the Olympian High School (OHS) eagles. The Barons ultimately left with a final score of 23-25. 

The Barons had a slow start with Olympian taking the lead with a score of 7-0 in the first quarter. Athletic director and football coach Tyler Arciaga shares how the immediate head start by Olympian was a concerning start to the game.

“They jumped on us early. I thought we had a good game plan going in to come back on offense, so when they score quickly like that that’s always a little concerning because you don’t expect that to happen, but I was glad with the resolve of our kids.” Arciaga said.

Although the Barons ended the first half with a point deficit of nine and a score of 19-10, they were able to make a near comeback in the second half. The team scored two touchdowns in the final quarter, where they reached their final score of 23-25, falling just two points short of tying with Olympian. Kicker and senior Daniel Ugarte shares the hope the touchdowns gave him which influenced his playing.

“I really started getting my hopes up that we would get a comeback win… I started warming up as much as I could so that I could be ready for when we would get in field goal range and hopefully get a game winning field goal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it going on that final drive and the game ended,” Ugarte said.

As BVH fell short of points, they also fell short in players. One of the challenges the team faced was the vast number of players who have been unable to play due to injuries and illness. Arciaga believes the team’s loss can be partially attributed to the loss of players.

“I think for us, we’ve had a lot of injuries, with guys being out, we had several people go home sick that day, so that was a challenge trying to plug and play folks at the last minute.” Arciaga said.

One of the players of BVH who faced injury in the weeks leading up to the game is cornerback and senior Isaiah Chappell. He was forced to be out of practice for two weeks due to injury which limited his playing time in the game. 

“I think overall I played well, but I wish I was able to contribute more on both sides of the ball. Coming back from an injury and not practicing for 2 weeks, I had limited playing time and so I wish I could’ve done more,” Chappell said.

While dealing with a shortage of players, what secured Bonita’s loss in the end was their disadvantage of Olympian’s point lead in the first quarter. The headstart by Olympian led the Barons to be in a constant game of catch up where the team was ultimately unable to score the tying two points in the end.

“I think the biggest challenge was recovering from our slow start. We were down 19-3 and came back but we just fell short by 2 points… I think we’re a much better team than what we showed on [Thursday],” Chappell said.

The motivation for the team to continue working hard and strive for improvement despite their loss is their dedication to representing Bonita as the season comes and goes. Ugarte shares how valuable representing the school is to the team’s playing, even when they face challenges like those experienced at the game.

“I think a lot of our motivation stems from representing this school. We’ve got three difficult rivalry league games coming up. We’re probably considered the underdogs in all of them,” Ugarte said. “More than anything right now, I want the success of this team because I personally love being a part of Bonita, regardless of if we win or lose.”