Just a month ago, the Diamond Bar High School football team began its season in league with a close loss against the Ayala Bulldogs, 28-21. But that was a s close as the Brahmas got, finishing the year with a league record of 0-5.

“This season, although our record may not show it, was a huge improvement for the team and myself, having a whole offseason with the guys. I’m just really proud with the way they played,” head coach Marcus Hughes said.

After their tough defeat against Ayala, the Brahmas took on the South Hills Huskies on Oct. 16, and lost in a tight  game, 17-10. The Brahmas had tied up the game with a 20-yard rushing touchdown by senior running back Dimaggio Rico, but the Huskies took the lead with a touchdown with two minutes remaining.

In its next match, the team received a crushing home defeat from the Claremont Wolfpack, 42-13. At halftime, the Wolfpack had taken a 28-7 lead, but the Brahmas built up momentum at the start of the third quarter with a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown, bringing the score to 28-13 after a missed PAT. However, those were the last points DB scored in the game. With this loss, the Brahmas had been officially eliminated from CIF contention.

The team’s next game was the final home game of the season, against the Bonita Bearcats, which resulted in a 26-7 loss. After a 20-0 deficit in the third quarter, the Brahmas were able to score on a 3-yard rushing touchdown. DB then opened the fourth quarter by forcing Bonita to punt. The Brahmas could not score on the drive and were forced to punt to Bonita. With the ball, Bonita halted any hopes of a comeback by scoring a touchdown with eight minutes left.

A week later, the Brahmas lost their last game of the season to this year’s Palomares League champion, the Glendora Tartans, 25-10. DB was held scoreless until a 1-yard touchdown in the end of the third quarter by senior Blake Goodman. The Brahmas would successfully prevent Glendora from scoring more points for the rest of the game, but the Tartans’ lead was too large. The final points of the game were scored  with a field goal from DB senior Anthony Vasquez. As their final game ended, the Brahmas finished  the year with an overall record of 4-6.

On defense, junior Jaime House had the most interceptions with three and senior captain David Omana led the team with six sacks.

“This was my first year playing defense. I was just thrown in there, but our defensive line coach was really good,” Omana said.

On the offensive side, the team averaged 126 rushing yards and 136 passing yards per contest while scoring 30 touchdowns. Defensively, the team picked off the opposing  quarterbacks six times while racking in 13 total sacks. The team averaged about 48 tackles per game.

Junior Grant Mestas was the leader in passing yards and touchdown with 1198 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 133 yard per game. Leading in rushing yards this season, Rico ran 1000 yards and scored 17 touchdowns. Rico also hauled in the special team’s only touchdown of the year. Senior Kyle Yada led the team in receiving with 41 receptions, 715 yards, and 6 touchdowns.

After a disappointing season, the Brahmas know that there’ll be changes made to the team.

“We need to get bigger, faster, and stronger. We need to develop into better playmakers, catch the ball, and overall execution of the little things,” Hughes said.