On Nov. 4, the Venice High varsity football team lost their homecoming game to Palisades. The team lost 14 to 7 after a 15-year winning streak against Palisades. Most people at the well-attended game expected Venice to win. Palisades pulled ahead in the third quarter.

“I feel like we played fair and we lost with dignity,” said junior Nancy Lopez, “but we took an L.”

According to Coach Angelo Gasca, the game went left when the offense was constantly stopped by Palisades’ defense.

“Offensively we could never get a rhythm going so when it came to the ending of the game when we needed to make a play, we couldn’t,” he said. “We almost had a chance to get even, but we had a touchdown callback. It was basically not a very good offensive game for us.”

The JV football team also lost 21 to 0. According to Coach Demoss Bosley, it was an emotional game due to their recent loss of a teammate, Joe Tachiki. In dedication, Tachiki’s brothers were captains for the game and his retired football jersey was given to his mom, teacher Christine Tachiki during halftime.

Tying with Palisades and Westchester, Venice was named Western League Champions with a league record of 4-1.

On Nov. 10, the varsity team played Crenshaw High School in the first round of playoffs at Venice High. For the second year in a row, Venice lost to Crenshaw, this year with a score of 40 to 20.

“Somewhere along there in the third quarter, we turned the ball over a couple times,” said Coach Gasca, “ It became obvious at some point in the game that because of our own turnovers, we weren’t going to be able to keep up with scoring.”

Senior John Uribe gave the team a good memory toward the very end of the game when he recovered a fumble and took it down to the 10-yard line. Coach Gasca noted that his run showed Venice High’s determination.

“It was very fun to see John run the ball, I’m sure he got a kick out of it and he’ll remember it for a lifetime,” said Coach Gasca.