Football, 2-4 overall, will face the University Wildcats, 2-4 overall, tonight at 7:30 p.m. before tomorrow’s Red Carpet themed homecoming.
“In the past, matchups against University have been a typical league game, but every opponent needs to be treated like a big game,” said senior Tate Evart, a co-captain alongside seniors Noah Devlin and Nathan Santacruz.
Instead of focusing on the opponent, the Gondoliers should prepare and grow as a team according to Coach Angelo Gasca. “The expectations are about us, it’s not planning for the opponent, as much as it’s preparing and growing our team and doing the things we can do better.”
“And continue trying to find the right pieces for the right parts of the team so the players can excel,” he said.
The Gondoliers are coming off a 48-0 blowout against the Hamilton Yankees during last weeks’ Pink Out game, with Devlin believing the Gondoliers can dominate the western league.
“With the way we’re playing, we can run the table, go five and zero and win the league,” he said.
With a strong initial start to the league season, Devlin is confident in the Gondolier’s performance going forward.
“After the way we played tonight, I can say we’ve improved a lot since our non league games. Leagues are going to be pretty fun this year.”
The strong performance in the first match of the league season comes after a weak non-league season, being 1-3. The Gondoliers continue to take “one play at a time,” said Gasca.
“We’ve had a struggling beginning to our season, and our emphasis to the team is just to take one play at a time. We’re trying to get better, and we’re just focused on that next play,” he said.
Gasca wants the Gondoliers to continue working on running past patterns “with more precision and accuracy to the right areas of the field, creating the right amount of space.”
“And defensively and offensively, we just need to be better on the front, and be a little more controlling on the line of scrimmage.”
With the league season having only started, playoffs are still in the Gondoliers’ mind despite it being four games away.
“Whether we have a choice or not, we have to be ready.”
