|
The Cardinal fans, bodies streaked with red and white paint, continuously chanted and cheered, but the time just hadn’t come for the football team to take revenge against the Washington Eagles.
On Oct. 10, the Cardinals faced off against the Eagles in the annual Battle of the Birds game at Kezar Stadium, hoping to repeat their victory at last year’s battle. The Cardinals were in an unfavorable situation, as several key players were not playing in the game, including senior defensive end Ian Maguire due to suspension. Senior linebacker Shant Siyahian, junior offensive linemen John Finnigan, and sophomore offensive linemen Nick Florio, were all out due to various injuries.
Still, the Cardinals managed to match every Eagle’s touchdown, with a score of 14-14 as the end of the last quarter neared. Determined to be the victors, both schools rallied for a countdown, and the referee flipped a coin to decide whether there would be overtime or not. The coin landed heads, the game continued on as sudden death.
The Eagles, who had been on offense, scored another touchdown and a two-point conversion, and shifted the score to 22-14.The Cardinals fought back with another touchdown, but were unable to once again match the Eagles, and the game was sadly ended 20-22. This loss was difficult as the Eagles, our rivals at play-offs, had beaten us then as well.
However head coach Danny Chan remained confident that the team played a good game. “A lot of players really stepped up on defense and the wingbacks such as Wang Han and Nate Banks really helped us,” said Chan, who has been coaching Lowell football since 1994. “Altogether the game was a really good character builder.”
In spite of the loss, the game was hard fought and exciting. The crowds on the Lowell side, which were the most supportive the football team has seen in a while, helped the team out a lot. One problem the team had been encountering was the lack of students in the stands. “Football definitely needs more fans,” varsity song co-captain junior Emily Lewin said. “They don’t have enough support.” But for the Battle of the Birds, the fans had come through.
On Oct. 3, the Cardinals played their season-opener against the less-than-impressive Burton. The game started off even, with each team scoring a touchdown in the first quarter. However, with our team’s combination of strong offense led by senior wingback Wang Han and a tough defense led by Siyahian and Maguire, the Cardinals came out on top 38-6.
“The first game is always really exciting and we had prepared really well with the pre-season games like the ones against Menlo and Paradise,” Chan said about their victory. “Our team is also really disciplined.”
Contrary to the team’s discipline, in the first half of the game, Maguire was ejected from the game after the referee claimed that he had fouled a Burton player, though the Pumas had noticeably begun to play dirty. “A [Burton] player swung at me and was ejected.” Maguire said. Then in a later play, another Puma had grabbed Maguire’s leg. The Burton player was kicked in the face and the referee then ejected Maguire, also suspending Maguire from Battle of the Birds.
On Sept. 27, the team played a very strong Menlo High School, a team that featured the son of the legendary 49ers’s wide receiver Jerry Rice. During the game, the Cardinals were first able to match the Knight's score with a second touchdown on a five-yard rush by Han, who ended the game with a total of 162 yards rushing. Senior wingback David Kwong added a total of 77 yards to the Cardinals’ 289 yards of total offense. Despite these efforts, the Knights managed to slip by the Cardinals with a four-yard touchdown pass, handing Lowell an 18-12 loss.
“Menlo hadn’t really played a team with our defensive tactics and physicality before,” Han said. “But we weren’t focused and we were defeated.”
On Sept. 20, the Cardinals faced off against a tough Liberty High School. There, the team scored three touchdowns, two delivered by Han, helping the Cardinals emerge victorious with a 21-15 win.
Though the Cardinals are winning, at most games only about 75 spectators are seen in the bleachers. Although over 2,500 students attend this school, a small number tends to cheer at the team’s games. “If a school is paying at a home game, and the visitor’s side has more fans, then that is really disappointing.” Siyahian said. “Fans coming to the games affect how we play. They provide energy and we feed off of that.”
The team has their next game tomorrow, Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. at Balboa High School.
|
