Despite the Diamond Bar High School football team not making the CIF playoffs, head coach Jeff Reitz is proud of his teams’ performance and work ethic this season.

“These guys had moments during the year that unbelievably blew me away. One day I said we gotta do extra running because we needed some more conditioning…  and they [team] ran like there was no tomorrow,” Reitz said. “Not one guy complained, nobody yelled at each other, and they all encouraged each other and ran their butts off. It was one of the proudest days I’ve ever had coaching.”

The Brahmas ended their season 3-2, losing to Don Lugo 62-7 but coming back and winning their last game against Montclair 63-30, putting them at third place in the Mt. Baldy League and in the running for CIF playoffs.         

But, the CIF committee did not award the Brahmas a wild-card spot in the tournament, which disappointed Reitz.

“The CIF [committee] picked other teams that we know we would’ve competed well against, so that’s disappointing,” Reitz said. “We lost three games by thirteen points, 27-20, 48-47, and 35-31… and we easily could’ve won any of those games if not all three of them.”

Lack of strength on the offensive and defensive lines was a common issue that the Brahmas faced. Because of this, the team encountered losses that ended in high margins, such as the loss against Don Lugo and the 70-34 loss to Chaffey.

However, Reitz is currently addressing the problem by implementing more weight training into the teams’ practice.

“We got pushed around in the offensive and defensive line, so that’s my job to get us bigger and stronger in the off-season, ” Reitz said. “Getting [the players] big is what I’ve done at every school I coached at, and by the second or third year we’ll be one of the strongest teams on the field, if not next year.”

Regardless of the team’s weaknesses, they turned around the losing culture of its winless 2017 season, improving to a 4-6 overall record this year. The offensive team averaged 391 yards per game, allowing them to score 21 more touchdowns compared to last season’s count of 26.

According to Reitz, 9 to 13 starters will be returning next year, adding offensive and defensive consistency to the roster.

“I knew from the outset that these guys were good enough, and it’s hard to turn a culture around in one year, but these guys bought into everything we did and I couldn’t have been more proud of them,” Reitz said.