The Brave News

by Lucas Garrison, Sports Editor, and Joshua Lucero

Week 1 of the Bosco football season has come to a close. Bosco was able to conquer DeMatha this week by a final score of 35-7. Coach Jason Negro was able to lead his team to a strong finish with 28 straight points even with the team coming out very slow in the first quarter.

The Braves were lead by a strong coaching staff, good play calling, and a great starting quarterback. D.J. started off slow and with the Brave offensive line, there were certain times early on it looked completely broken, however, they were able to bounce back in the second half as Bosco exploded offensively. D.J. was able to take control of the game once he was able to get comfortable in the pocket. Uiagalelei having 17 completions in 37 attempts for 322 yards and two touchdowns. Even though he settled into a big night, D.J. shouldered all the blame for his slow start.

“I think that was solely on me. I was missing a lot of my receivers on their targets. I was missing easy throws that I should have been making. Once I started hitting my receivers they just did what they do best. We were able to work together and the offensive line was able to create holes for the running backs,” said D.J.

At the end of the first quarter the score was 7-0 Bosco. Once halftime had rolled around the score was 21-7. The Braves offense showed at times they could be very dangerous, however, the big talk of the game was the Braves dominant defense.

Bosco was led by Kourt Williams II and Josh Alford against the pass, but the interior line as a whole lead by Kobe Pepe looked strong, to say the least. Even though the Braves gave up a couple big plays on the defensive side of the ball, they were always able to bounce back quickly.

That’s what you need at this elite level of football, and the Braves proved that having a short term memory is key and they showed that when you have that, you will be able to succeed.

“As a defense we knew we had to keep Marshawn Loyd controlled, and we felt for the majority of the game we were able to do that. We kept him under pressure constantly, and made sure to stack the box whenever they attempted to go inside on us,” said outside linebacker and defensive end Jason Gagnon.

On the offensive side of the ball, wide receiver Logan Loya had a big night, with 6 catches for 98 yards and a big catch on 4th down to keep a 97-yard touchdown drive alive in the first half alone.

“We were able to adapt to what Dematha was doing. If they blitzed we were able to get it out fast and if they backed up we ran the ball,” Logan said.

Despite his big night as a receiver, one thing haunted Logan as he headed into the locker room at the end of the night.

“I have to make my field goals,” said Logan. “On offense, we as a whole, have to make more points and defensively we have to hold them to zero,” said Loya.

Bosco will take our Salesian “brother school” Don Bosco Prep of New Jersey next week in another premier national match-up.