Brahmas no longer undefeated after 17-14 loss against Brea Olinda
September 19, 2015
It had to come to an end eventually. In what was the Diamond Bar High School Brahmas’ closest game of the fledgling season, the Brea Olinda Wildcats won 17-14, stopping the Brahma’s final drive with an interception. With this loss, Diamond Bar now has an overall record of 3-1.
“We had a bad week of practice and it showed in the game,” head coach Marcus Hughes said. “Coming off of a big win versus San Dimas, there was a lack of focus and we tried to wheel them in. As coaches, we didn’t do a good enough job and we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Similarly to Diamond Bar’s past two games against San Dimas and Walnut, the opposing team scored the first seven points of the game. The Wildcats slipped through the Brahmas’ defense early on in the quarter, but on the next possession, the Brahmas tied the score with a 42-yard rushing touchdown by senior running back Dimaggio Rico. However, after the Diamond Bar offense failed to secure a first down, Brea Olinda took the lead again with a rushing touchdown from the 15-yard line, bringing the score to 14-7 at nearly five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Brahmas started the second quarter with a first down on the 16-yard line, still seven points away, and as it came to the fourth down, the Brahmas failed the attempted field goal from the 14-yard line. But, immediately, on the next play, Diamond Bar’s defense recovered Brea Olinda’s fumble. Two more turnovers left the Brahmas with the ball at the 12-yard line; from there Mestas threw a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Connor Donahue to tie the game. The score remained 14-14 at halftime.
Although the Wildcats scored the final points of the game with a field goal from the 30-yard line during the last minute of an otherwise stagnant third quarter, an interception at the 4-yard line by junior defensive lineman Anthony Montano brought hope to the Brahmas in the fourth quarter. The clock ticked from three minutes to one, as the Brahmas attempted a mad drive down the field. Despite picking up several first downs, the Wildcats intercepted a pass thrown from junior quarterback Grant Mestas to Rico with 30 seconds left in the game and abruptly terminated Diamond Bar’s last run.
“[The Wildcats] never quit and they played hard. They had some injuries, they overcame them, and they came out with a victory,” Hughes said. “We’ve got to move on and get ready for Cypress, because we’ve got another good team coming.”
