Varsity football loses league championship to Stellar Prep on senior night

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Jonathan Dai

A Harker player runs with the ball during the league championship game against Stellar Prep.

by Justin Su, Assistant Sports Editor

The Eagles lost to Stellar Prep Academy 7-34 last Friday on Davis Field during their senior night and league championship game.

Before the game, football seniors Johnathan Keller, Oisin Coveney, Nikhil Ramgiri, Trenton Thomas, Miles DeWitt and cheerleading seniors Alisa Wakita, Marita del Alto, and Elizabeth Edwards were honored for their senior night.  

“It was really cool to see everyone come out and especially people from our class,” Marita said. “Just walking through the field with my family and then hearing everyone cheering my name was really great.”

The Eagles started off the game slow, losing the first half 0-14. Running back Demonte Aleem (9) scored a touchdown during the second half to bring the score back up to 7-14.

“We just made too many mistakes, little mistakes that we haven’t made all year we made today, a number of them,” Coach Tirabassi said. “When you play a team that’s bigger than you and some of them faster than you, you beat them by making less mistakes and we didn’t do that.”

The stands were filled with spectators who came out to support the seniors at the league championship game.

“I’ve seen the team play better which is kind of a shame considering it was for the league championship and it was senior night, so I would have liked to see them play the way I know they can,” assistant athletic trainer Kailee Gifford (11) said. “I know that if they had played against Stellar like any other school they’ve played lately, I know we could have totally crushed Stellar.”

Stellar Prep scored one touchdown during the third quarter and two more during the fourth quarter, bringing the game to an end.

“I know we played hard, but the other team was a bit better than us,” offensive lineman Trenton Thomas (12) said. “We probably would’ve won or made it closer if it wasn’t for all those fumbles we had, but little mistakes, big results. Given the chance to play them again, that would be fun.”

Quarterback Nate Kelly (10) voiced his thoughts on the game.

“We’re a better team than that and we all know that, and we just made a lot of mistakes that we couldn’t take back,” Nate said. “Against a faster and stronger team like that and bigger team, we’ll pay the price, and we did.”

The team now prepares to play an non conference away game against Richmond High School next Friday.