The Whiteface Antelopes football team fell short on the road against the Klondike Cougars this past Friday night, losing 56-8.
The game ended at halftime as the sixman football rule of the 45-point first half lead went into effect, making it a short-lived night for the Antelopes.
Given that Whiteface was coming into the game off of two straight blowout wins, the result came as quite the shock.
“Definitely not the results that we wanted or really expected,” Head Coach Brandon Flores said. “I thought we would’ve given them a little more of a fight but they’re good. They’re really athletic, quick and extremely well coached. That’s kind of a recipe for disaster for any opponent of theirs and I don’t think we did a good job of responding to adverse moments, and they got the best of us.”
They could never really get anything going on either side of the ball, which showed in not only the score but also the statistics.
Offensively, the Antelopes had 19 rushes for 24 yards, they completed five of 13 passes, they turned the ball over three times, as well as going one for nine on 3rd downs and one for four on 4th downs.
Defensively, they struggled giving up big plays, as Klondike had five passes completed for 112 yards and three touchdowns, and five rushes for 78 yards and three touchdowns.
Nothing seemed to go right in the blowout loss, but the struggles can still refine Whiteface as a team.
“One positive from that game is we can learn about what we need to work on and where we’re at as a team now,” Flores said. “Playing against somebody of that speed, and they were quite physical too, it gives us a point on where we stand with a team of that caliber. We got to watch film on Saturday and pick it apart with our kids. Defensively, we looked at eye discipline and filling our run gaps. Offensively, are we taking a right step when we’re supposed to be taking a left? What shoulder were we punching first? We got to really break that film down. We’ve got plenty of things to work on this week and it gave us a full laundry list of things.”
You never want to lose but they’ll use it to sharpen up their weak points that Coach Flores mentioned and learn from the experience.
Coach Flores also noted the performances of sophomore Luke Gresham and junior Jaxon Hodge, giving them praise for their efforts against Klondike.
The duo had 18 total touches and three tackles on Friday night and while the stat sheet doesn’t tell the full story, the grit and grind they showed was commendable.
Also worth noting is senior Victor Borunda, who had the Antelopes lone touchdown on a 45-yard kickoff return.
He also rushed the ball three times for 16 yards and completed two passes.
Kudos to those three performances in the loss, which they’ll look to replicate in a winning effort next week.
The team won’t be looking back at the blowout loss, but Coach Flores said they would use it as motivation to play with a chip on their shoulder and prevent it from happening again.
It doesn’t get any easier moving forward as they travel to Elida, New Mexico next to face off against the 4-1 Tigers.
The Antelopes will have to be ready for another great team and Coach Flores knows exactly what adjustments they need.
“We’ve just got to go back to our fundamentals,” Flores said. “Defensively, having our eyes right, getting our pad level down and pursuing the ball correctly. Offensively, we didn’t do a great job blocking, we’ve got to put a hat on a hat and stay on the block until the whistle, making sure our quarterbacks and running backs are protected.”
It’s back to the basics for Whiteface as they face a team with good size and lots of returners.
They’ll practice and prepare intentionally this week in hopes of a big bounce back win this Friday at 8:00pm.