Refusing to miss the championships, the Cardinals have mustered a guaranteed spot in the playoffs with a 3-2 record. The team has not won the city championships since 2005, while the Lincoln Mustangs and their star runningback David Henderson have dominated the division for the past two years.

On Nov. 6, the Cardinals faced off against the Mission Bears in one of their last games before the playoffs. The Bears have always put up a worthy fight on the field and, sadly for the Cardinals, this year Mission’s efforts finally prevailed.

The Cardinals took the lead at the beginning of the first quarter but when the Cardinal’s defense began to falter, the Bears took their cue and scored two touchdowns. The Cardinals failed to get past the Bear’s defense and lost 20-16.

That loss followed a victory on Oct. 24 over the weak Galileo Lions. The Lions were no match for Lowell in the first quarter, making way for three Cardinal touchdowns. However, the Cardinals were shut out during the second quarter, and failed to double their halftime score of 21, which was the team’s goal in the second half.

“We should have beat Galileo by much more,” senior wingback Wang Han said. “Our defense wasn’t supposed to allow them their one touchdown. We can’t play at our opponent’s low level.” The Cardinals still embarrassed the Lions 37-8.

On Oct. 18, the Balboa Buccaneers put up a gallant effort, though the Cardinals dominated the game with a score 38-28. “The score is deceiving,” senior linebacker and captain Shant Siyahian said. “Our defense let up a little, which allowed them to score some touchdowns, but there was no way we were going to allow them to win.”

With the season coming to an end, many players are playing in their last season as Cardinals, including all four captains, offensive lineman Ian Maguire, wingback Kevin Li, wingback David Kwong, and Siyahian, and senior wingbacks Nathaniel Banks and Wang Han — who contributed the highest amount of touchdowns to the scoreboard this season. “I am going to miss being a Cardinal football player,” Siyahian said. “But I have high hopes on how the season ends.”

Although they lost some games this year, the Cardinals still harbor some of their best players and possible keys to next year’s domination of the AAA league.

Still to remain a Cardinal for another year is junior quarterback Ryan Louie, who has stepped into a strong leadership role this season. Also predicted to rise in next year’s season is sophomore linebacker Ernest Marshall, who is one of the youngest players on the team, but has greatly developed throughout the season, according to Han.

The Cardinals next game will be the semi- finals, TBA.