The Bears played their first home Friday Night Lights game of the season against the Live Oak Acorns and rewarded the overflowing stands with a ruthless 35-0 win. After a tough 21-0 away loss against Archbishop Mitty last week, the Bears made sure to reign over their home field.
“We came off of last week’s loss and said, ‘We are not going to have a bad week of practice that’s going to set us up for failure,’ so we came out and had really fired up practices. We came into this game knowing that, even though Live Oak wasn’t the best opponent we were going to face this year, we were still going to play our game,” senior defensive end Devin Hyde said.
Before kickoff, the Bears commemorated Omar Hussain, a beloved football player who had passed away last spring. Head coach Chris Saunders gathered with the football team and Hussain’s family as they wore shirts bearing Hussain’s name, picture, and number. Senior quarterback Xander Eschelman led the Bears in a group prayer before performing the haka in honor of Hussain.
Live Oak started with the ball, but the Bears’ impenetrable defense prevented the Acorns from making any moves to the endzone. Once M-A was on offense, the Bears wasted no time. A 37-yard connection from Eschelman to junior wide receiver JT Roeder immediately put the Bears up 7-0, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
This was Eschelman’s first game of the season after being out due to an injury. “Sitting out watching my teammate play without me sucked. I wish I could have helped them out, but it’s great to be back now,” Eschelman said.
The Acorns were back on offense, but could not get their plays rolling. M-A knocked down any attempts for Live Oak to make any significant advances through the field, giving them no choice but to punt the ball.
With 2:13 left in the first quarter, the ball was back to the Bears, and their offense could not be stopped. Another connection halfway across the field from Eschelman to Roeder brought M-A’s second touchdown of the night. Junior kicker Anthony Perez nailed the extra point, building onto the Bears’ lead 14-0.
Roeder was awarded a hat trick at the beginning of the second quarter after scoring yet another touchdown. The Bears were blazing through the Acorns 21-0.
With 4:53 left in the first half, junior quarterback Teddy Dacey made a 10-yard connection with junior running back Evaimalo Ama to score yet another touchdown. Halftime began with M-A leading 28-0.
The third quarter began, and the Bears continued to effortlessly drive down the field. With 7:54 left junior running back Monty Turner ran the ball through Live Oak’s frail defense, extending M-A’s lead 35-0.
As the Bears continued to soar ahead in the scoreboard, the crowd was presented with a pleasant surprise. Two 49er players: safety Talanoa Hufanga and cornerback Isaac Yiadom, made an appearance on the field. Excitement ran through the crowd as fans called out from the sidelines.
As the fourth and final quarter began, M-A’s 35-0 lead elicited a running clock. Live Oak continued to make unsuccessful attempts through M-A’s defense, and the Bears’ offense did not continue scoring.
With under a minute left in the game, the Acorns attempted to make one last push to the endzone. Senior defensive end Giles Hayhurst denied this attempt, stopping Live Oak’s running back dead in his tracks to run the clock out. The Bears concluded the game with a 35-0 victory.
“I think the loss last week motivated everyone to do better,” Hayhurst said. “We had a team goal to be undefeated on our home field, and this was our next test after we beat Bellarmine. We all knew that there wasn’t an option and we had to win today.”
After the game, students came to the field to meet with Hufanga and Yiadom to take pictures, and the team performed the haka. In their final cheer, the team dedicated their victory to Omar.
The Bears will continue to defend their home court next Friday at 7:00 p.m. against Aragon.
