The Cabrillo football program is optimistic—maybe a little too optimistic.  Down 38-6 to Paramount with 7 minutes to go in the game facing a 4^th and 5 at midfield, most teams would pack it in and punt just to not make it worse, but AJ Luke and the Cabrillo Jaguars decided they’d have none of that.  Despite the 32-point deficit, the team went for it.  Derek Stewart rolled out and picked up the first down.  At the time it seemed like only a little victory; but right now the little victories, the moral ones, are the only ones Cabrillo can get, and that conversion marked the beginning of a lot of little victories for the Jaguars.

Last season Cabrillo didn’t win a game, but their best shot came in a 15-12 loss to Paramount.  This year the low-scoring, grind-it-out victory Cabrillo was hoping for disappeared early.  After holding the Pirates to a 3-and-out, Cabrillo also went 3-and-out but a partially-blocked punt gave Paramount the ball on the Jaguar 36.  Despite moving the ball only 14 yards, the Pirates got on the board first.  Cabrillo then made things worse, coughing the ball up on the ensuing drive to give Paramount the ball back at the Jaguar 13.  Paramount punched it in for a 10-0 lead. 

The Jaguars tried to respond, moving the ball to midfield where they faced a 4^th and 4 but couldn’t convert and Paramount again took advantage of the good field position- this time with a 50 yard touchdown drive.  Cabrillo still didn’t give up and had a nice drive that ultimately stalled out at the Pirate 18 after they couldn’t convert a 4^th and 1.  Paramount took the ball with just a few minutes left and marched down the field.  Cabrillo held up enough to force Paramount into a 4^th and 1 at the Jaguar 29, the Pirates fumbled the snap before quarterback Lawrence Hill recovered and scrambled for a 29 yard touchdown with no time left in the half.  It was the ultimate capper for a half in which everything for Cabrillo went wrong.

Then AJ Luke spoke to the team.  “Play the best half of your lives!”  He told the team, before gathering his coaches to discuss strategy.  Then something amazing happened—the team, with no coaches around, gathered up.  A few of the veteran players got in the middle and they had a real team meeting.  I can’t quote what they said (this is a family-friendly website) but suffice it to say that these players let their teammates know that last year is not going to happen again, because weren’t going to let it.  It’s easy to look at this loss and say that this team should be used to it by now, but that’s not the case.  It isn’t just the coaches that want to win, the Jags players want it just as bad if not more. 

The 3^rd quarter still didn’t start out Cabrillo’s way as Paramount marched 68 yards to go up 31-0.  But then Cabrillo found their gameplan: get the ball to Donavan Cruz.  The converted QB quickly became Derek Stewart’s favorite target and the Jaguars marched down the field 70 yards, capped off by a wonderful leaping catch by Cruz to get on the board.  After the game Luke would admit that Cruz was disappointed by no longer playing QB but the coaching staff knew that they had to get their two best players on the field at the same time. 

Paramount would score again to make it 38-6, which brings us to that 4^th down play at midfield with 7 to go.  Stewart converted, and followed it with a great pass to Cruz- who did the rest.  Again they didn’t get the 2-pt, making it 38-12.  The Jags onside-kicked and recovered, and scored to make it 38-18.  They didn’t get the next onside, but within a couple of plays they forced a fumble.  Stewart to Cruz, a completed two-point conversion (finally), and suddenly it was 38-26.  That was as close as they would come—Paramount recovered the final onside kick and ran out the clock, but the message was loud and clear: this Cabrillo team might finally have figured out how to play.

After the final first down, once Paramount begun to kneel it, several Cabrillo players broke down.  This was supposed to be it, the end of The Streak.  Instead it lives another day.  But Coach Luke was not going to let that be the message, instead he told the team about the team he saw play in the 4^th quarter.  “The cloud is lifted,” he told his guys.  “That 4^th quarter showed what we can do!”  He emphasized to the team that this is still preseason, and that they are just preparing for Millikan on October 2^nd and the rest of the Moore League.  Afterward he told me “We don’t cry [about the losses], we teach.”  If that second half is any indication, this Cabrillo team might just be starting to learn.