The TJ Football team closes out its season with a close loss against the Fossil Ridge Saber Cats.
Photo by Mia Noguiera
The Spartan football team took the field for a hard fought battle last Friday, November 5th against Fossil Ridge High School, and was unable to come out of the game victorious, with a final score of 31-27.
The Spartans found themselves down on the scoreboard for the entire first half due to early mistakes, turnovers, and an inability to get focused early. This is an unfortunately appropriate finish, as it typifies the rest of the season, which has been ravaged by costly turnovers and mistakes. Head Coach Tim Owens comments about the season, “A lot of kids did improve over the season and we were able to be more competitive toward the end, but you can’t turn the ball over as much as we did and expect to win games.”
Despite this, the team made a full 180 in the second half and came alive fighting their way back into the game. In the second half, the senior players and leaders on the team rekindled the spirits and intensity of the team and showed that they were not ready to roll over and admit defeat. Immediately after the whistle, Senior Tailback Robert McMacken broke to the edge against the massive Saber Cat defense and sprinted to the end zone for an 80+ yard run. However, this play was controversially called back for a penalty and the touchdown was negated. “It was really frustrating that that one got called back because it would have been a real momentum shifter for the game in our favor,” said McMacken.
Still on this drive, the Spartans were determined to score and marched down to the 10-yard line with some great passing combinations from Quarterback Brandon Gonzales to Receivers Ian Melnicoe and Antonio Clark who had over 200 receiving yards between the themselves in the game. The team capitalized on this drive with a goal line run by Senior Lonnie Hampton for the score. Also scoring in this game was Denzeal Truesdale in the third quarter and Brandon Gonzales on a quarterback keeper in the fourth quarter. At the end of the game, the Spartans were down by four with three minutes left on the clock and an entire field to drive down, but couldn’t quite get things to connect and were forced to settle with the losing score of 31-27.
With the end of the season for the football team also comes the end of the seniors’ tenure as Spartan Football players. Despite the record of their last year, many of the seniors look back fondly on their career as TJ football players. “We may not have had the best record this year, but I really enjoyed playing alongside my brothers out there. It may have been rough at times, but I will never forget or regret my time playing TJ football,” said Senior Captain John Jones.
“Despite our record and disappointing season, I really will miss my times as a TJ football player. Hopefully the seniors of this year – including myself – have left behind good principles and a strong work ethic for next year’s team to follow,” added Senior Receiver Kevin Kumar.
The seniors also hope that what happened with this season will not happen again for the next generation of Spartan Football. Senior Captain Brandon Tara said, “The seniors worked very hard for our time being a part of the TJ Football family. I just hope that next year, the incoming seniors and players will keep the TJ Football tradition of greatness alive.”
TJ Varsity Football Schedule:
9/03/10
7:00 PM @ Columbine (Littleton, CO) ( L 30-14)
9/11/10
4:00 PM vs. Chaparral (Parker, CO) ( L 45-19)
9/16/10
7:00 PM @ Heritage (Littleton, CO) ( L 46-6)
Location: Littleton Public Stadium
9/24/10
7:00 PM vs. Denver South (Denver, CO) (L 27-18)
10/01/10
6:00 PM vs. Lakewood (Lakewood, CO) (L 28-14)
10/09/10
4:00 PM @ Lincoln (Denver, CO) (W 40-0)
10/16/10
1:00 PM @ George Washington (Denver, CO) (W 21-14)
10/22/10
7:00 PM vs. Denver East (Denver, CO) (L 0-26)
10/30/10
4:00 PM @ Montbello (Denver, CO) (W 34-13)
Location: All City Stadium
11/05/10
4:00 PM vs. Fossil Ridge (L 31-27)
