Varsity football won a back and forth battle 37-25 at Miramonte on October 14.

Going into the game, the 5-1 Cougars were looking to break the tie for the Diablo Athletic League lead against the 5-1 Matadors.

Past success gave the Cougars reason to be confident. “We have beaten them for the past 6 years straight so I would not say it is a revenge game for them. They always want to beat us by a lot but they never can,” said senior lineman Jackson Rothman.

Seniors Jacob Westphal and Noah Loeliger led the offensive attach that ultimately proved too much for Miramonte. Together, they amassed 179 passing yards, 186 rushing yards, and 3 touch downs against the Matador defense.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the game was not a forgone conclusion. “Miramonte is a much better team than they were last year and we lost our whole offensive line so our pass protection was completely different and Miramonte’s passing game was a lot better- they had a lot more depth at reciever than they did last year,” said Rothman.

The Cougars came out strong, scoring 2 touchdowns in the first quarter, while Miramonte managed 1.  The Mats failed to convert on the 2-point conversion.

It was a quiet 2nd quarter, with a field goal from Campolindo and 2 from Miramonte.

The Cougars came out from halftime to score a 47 yard touchdown pass from Westphal to Junior Vincent Mossotti. Miramonte came back with a rushing score from quarterbackTim Teague.

Miramonte began the 4th quarter on offense, with the score 24-19 in favor of the Cougars. Within the first minute, Teague threw a 75 yard touchdown to wide receiver Nick Foster, giving the Matts their first lead of the game, 25-24.  8 minutes later, after a long offensive drive, senior Matthew Rinquist ran into the end zone from 3 years out, recapturing the lead for Campolindo, 30-25.

After a 4-and-out series from Miramonte, the Campolindo offense scored again to seal the win.

“I think they played at their full potential; they just didn’t have the athleticism as we did,” Rothman said. “They didn’t have a good run game at all.”