O’NEALS – On a frigid evening in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, a gargantuan struggle on the gridiron took place between Orosi and Minarets.
With the fog blanketing the field at Minarets Stadium, the #2 seed Cardinals offense became obscured by three turnovers in the first half of their Central Section D-VI Title game against the #1 seed Mustangs. Orosi managed to hang tough, but in the end, their 21-14 loss to Minarets on Nov. 28 made that Black Friday feel a little bleaker.
“We did those turnovers. Those were costly, but we still stuck to the game plan,” said Orosi head coach Ben White. “We stopped a couple of drives, but you can’t turn the ball over like that in the first half, like we did in a big game.”
Attempting to step up with big moments in the biggest game of the season, Orosi quarterback Juan Diego Villegas forced two interceptions and also lost a fumble on offensive drives that had promising potential.
And while the Cardinals attempted to mix up the playsheet with their dangerous run game, led by stellar senior Jason De La Cruz, time had already started to run out on any hopes of turning the momentum in their favor. De La Cruz rushed for 200 yards on 29 carries and 1 touchdown, according to stats in MaxPreps.
“We made some adjustments, we were able to run the ball, that drive, right before halftime, we just ran out of time,” said White. “Hats off to them; they had a good defense, they stuffed us a lot of times.”
Orosi’s defense, tested and proud, had their hands full with the Mustang’s dangerous duo of quarterback Torin Wolf and wide receiver Caden Hansen. Wolf and Hansen, Minarets’ version of the Pony Express, delivered some big plays on the ground and in the air.
“They’re a really good team, that quarterback’s one heck of a player. He made a lot of plays for them, and hats off to them,” said White. “And their number 13 (Hansen) is a great player, too. I mean, we had to double cover him, which opened up lanes for a lot of their other receivers to make plays.”
Losing always hurts, and when it happens with a championship on the line, it can take a while to bounce back. But for these Cardinals, to have come so far only to come up short in the end, White said there is such a thing as a moral victory.
“I thought they played their hearts out — I’m really proud of them,” he said. “Yeah, we lost, but inside, I also feel that we won because we came here and showed up. It could’ve gone either way.”
Orosi (10-4/5-2) proved the doubters wrong all season. And even in defeat, the Cardinals left it all on the field and gave it their all.
“I’m really proud of the way we played all year, because nobody expected us to get this far at all,” said White. “We overcame a lot of adversity throughout the season. I’m just proud of the effort and the way the guys played.”
