by Lucas Garrison, Sports Editor

The Braves marched into Cerritos College on Saturday with one goal in mind against the “Team in Red”: Revenge. They emerged from the ashes of a barn burner as your 2019 CIF-Southern Section Champions after mounting an epic comeback, putting them in the driver’s seat for a consensus national title with one more win over Concord De La Salle in the CIF-State Championship. 

In Trinity League play, the “Team in Red” took down the Braves at Panish Family Stadium. Looking back on that first meeting, the Braves looked lost on the defensive side and at times struggled to move the ball up and down the field. The beginning of Saturday’s game looked the same.

The Braves within the first three minutes of the game gave up two passing touchdowns to the “Team in Red.” The first was a 62-yard pass from Bryce Young to receiver C.J. Williams. Then, after forcing a punt, the “Team in Red” got the ball back and marched down the field, which would result in yet another passing touchdown for the Alabama-commit to take a commanding 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

In the Braves stands, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Brave faces showed frustration, shock and pure disappointment. That’s how a majority of the first half felt.

With six minutes to go in the first quarter, Logan Loya marched out and drilled a line drive 33-yard field goal to put the Braves on the board.

But just as the Braves started to look like they were gaining momentum, a fumble occurred and halted the Braves’ promising drive. However, the fumble seemed to work in the Braves favor for the sole fact that it backed the “Team in Red” up against their own goalline. The Braves then sacked Young in his own end zone forcing a safety, as the Braves cut the lead by two more with 4 minutes left in the first quarter to put the score at 14-5.

The Braves’ defense was the story for Saturday’s game. Forcing 5 turnovers and 3 sacks. The first interception came late in the 1st quarter, as Jake Newman read the play and perfectly jumped the receiver, intercepted the ball and returned it for 16 yards. The Braves seemed to have captured lightning in a bottle at this point, as they looked to post a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

However, the sad fact of the matter was that as the first half progressed the Braves consistently stalled out on offense, and their seemingly lock down defense would give up two more touchdowns to Young. He completed another touchdown for 30 yards to Cristian Dixon and then a 21-yard touchdown, where Young found Williams for the second time on Saturday.

Braves quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei found wide receiver Kris Hutson for a six-yard touchdown to close out the half. The score at half time was 28-12 in favor of the “Team in Red.”

Heading into the third quarter, the Braves received the ball and would begin the comeback of the century. It would start off with D.J. finding Hutson in the end zone for a 26-yard completion to cut the game down to a score of 28-19.

Then the Braves defense stepped up big yet again. The Braves were looking to force a three-and-out, as their defense had stepped up on the previous two plays. Then coming off the edge was defensive end Jalen Woods to drop Young to the ground and force the “Team in Red” to punt the ball back to the Braves.

The Braves retook the field with a sparkle in their eyes; it was a completely different feel in the stadium than in the first half. Everyone from the players to the coaches to the fans were going nuts.

D.J. began the Braves’ second drive of the half by tossing two quick passes to move the Braves 25 yards away from the “Team in Red’s” end zone. Coming out of the huddle, the Braves offense looked calm. As D.J. dropped back, he had no one open initially, but the offensive line did a great job giving him more than enough time to locate tight end Adam Awaida for the touchdown to cut the “Team in Red’s” lead to just two points.

Then on the first play of the ensuing series the Braves would tip a Young pass up in the air and pick off the “Team in Red,” setting the Braves up with excellent field position with under a minute left in the 3rd quarter. The Braves would run to the sideline as the quarter ended waving their arms attempting to hype the crowd up, and that’s exactly what they did. The Braves would head into the fourth quarter trailing. However, for the first time during the night, they felt revenge well within their grasp.

D.J. then began the fourth quarter how the Brave faithful envisioned by snatching the life out of the “Team in Red,” as he found wide receiver Logan Loya for a touchdown, putting the Braves ahead of their rival for the first time all season by a score of 32-28.

The Braves not only took the lead; they kept it.

D.J. came out after yet another stop by the Braves’ defense and found Loya for a second time to increase the Braves lead by a score of 39-28.

However, the “Team in Red” would attempt a comeback of their own. Young would complete his fifth passing touchdown of the game to Domani Jackson, cutting the Braves lead down to a score of 39-34 after the Braves defense stepped up and stuffed the “Team in Red’s” two-point conversion attempt.

Bosco would then get the ball back and attempt to run the clock out. Head coach Jason Negro would make a decision to go for it on fourth and inches in Brave territory, and the “Team in Red” took great field position after stuffing the Braves attempted quarterback sneak.

But to cap an improbable night, they quickly fumbled the ball back to the Braves. After running some clock, the Braves punted the ball back to the “Team in Red,” who were able to make everyone’s heart jump once last time as Young made a Hail Mary throw to the end zone, but of course, there was the Braves defense, again, in fitting fashion.

Kris Hutson, who caught huge passes on offense all night long while playing two ways most of the game, secured his final grab not from D.J. but from Young, whose prayer ended in the hands of Hutson, deafened by Tribe cheers exclaiming relief… and revenge.

The Braves look forward to the opportunity of capturing a state and national title December 14th at Cerritos College against Concord De La Salle.

by Hunter Richardson, Assistant Sports Editor

The Braves find themselves one game away from a potential rematch with the “Team in Ted.” Tonight they face off against the explosive Corona Centennial Huskies in the Semifinals of the Division I CIF-SS playoffs. 

Bosco football rolled through their opening round opponent, Calabasas High School, winning 63-7, and this week they will have to keep their momentum flowing against the highly skilled Huskies squad. The Huskies, coming into this game at 9-2, ran through their league going undefeated with none of those games being close. Same goes for their opening round matchup versus JSerra where they rocked the Lions 56-0. Both the Braves and the Huskies are riding heavy momentum into tonight’s game, which should be an explosive offensive night for both sides.

The Huskies are a loaded squad with a high octane offense that can put up points against any defense in the country. Corona Centennial is averaging a mindblowing 54 points a game, so tonight is going to be a very tall task for Coach Negro’s defense. The Husky offense is also balanced averaging over 225 rushing and passing yards per game, respectively. Tonight might have to be a game where the offense wins in a shootout.

The Huskies, after winning a coin flip, also have home field advantage, which poses another challenge for the Braves playing away from Panish Family Stadium after a long road trip. Despite the trek for Brave Nation, the faithful will certainly show out to support their team in the biggest game of the year so far.

The Braves and the Huskies have faced each other quite a few times in the last few years in the CIF playoffs. It is nothing new to see these two teams reach the semifinals, and the last time they faced each other in 2017 the Braves won easily by a score of 62-34, again in the CIF semifinals.

The Braves are one win away from potentially getting their chance at revenge against the “Team in Red,” who beat the Braves in Trinity League play at Panish Stadium and last year in a  heartbreak ending to the season in the CIF-SS final. This season has only been about one thing for the Braves, and that is win a national championship or bust. With a win tonight they are one step closer to realizing that goal, but that goal can just as easily be put to rest by the Huskies tonight. With Brave Nation behind them though, and not to mention some of the best talent in the country on both sides of the ball, the Braves are poised for another trip to the CIF-SS finals.

The game begins at 7:30 pm. If you can’t make it out to the game, it will be televised on Fox Sports West.

by Kourt Williams

This past Saturday, the University of Alabama played against Mississippi State. Late in the first half, Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama’s starting quarterback was tacked by two Mississippi players and resulting in a drastic injury; a dislocated hip. Sources declare he will undergo surgery and be out for the remainder of the season. 

Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban speaks on the impact an injury like this has on the team, “…we lost a great leader, a great player, we’re all hurting.” Saban goes on to say, “I feel bad and I’m hurting for him. I called him to cheer him up, and he then cheers me up.”

An injury of this magnitude is detrimental to the football program just because of the major role Tagovailoa plays for the team. He has been the starting quarterback for two years, therefore the team has become accustomed to his style of play and methods of leadership. Now with him gone, and with a new, less experienced quarterback to fill his shoes, it will be interesting to see how to team does or doesn’t recover from this detrimental change for the remainder of the season.

Tagovailoa suffered a dislocated hip, which ironically is the same injury, NFL player, Bo Jackson suffered in the prime of his career in 1991. There has been speculation around this injury because this injury cost Jackson’s entire career, despite him being well in his prime. There has been concerns for Tagovailoa as to whether or not he will be able to fully recover and even be able to step on the football field as the Alabama starting QB again.

Alabama team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lyle Cain provided an early prognosis stating, “Tua Tagovailoa sustained a right hip dislocation that was immediately reduced at the stadium. He is undergoing further testing to determine the best course of treatment. He is expected to make a full recovery but will miss the remainder of the season.”

Despite this early prognosis, there is a level of uncertainty from other doctors because they do not know the extent of the injury.

Dr. Louis Levitt further says, “This was the case where, when you dislocate the hip, that you have a limited period of time to get the hip back into the socket again because you compromise the blood flow to the ball of the ball and socket joint.”

Tagovailoa will potentially miss the 2020 season as well. Depending on how well the bone heals and the effectiveness of his rehabilitation, there are questions if he will ever be able to step on a football field again; the Bo Jackson Story. If the blood flow is compromised and can’t flow to the socket, the ball inside the socket can possibly die, and if that occurs, his football playing days will be over.

Tagovailoa was released two days ago in with a prognosis of ‘excellent’ by the doctors, a great sign. He will now let the injury heal completely and undergo rehabilitation. Hopefully, for his sake and the future of Alabama Football, everything will heal smoothly, and we will see this once magnificent quarterback on the gridiron make his return.

by: Lucas Garrison, Sports Editor, and Travien Sears A and E Editor

The Second-seeded Braves, walked into Panish Family Stadium Friday night with one goal in mind: Destroy. As the Braves are coming off yet another impressive season, tenth year head coach Jason Negro and the Braves will look to make another CIF Championship appearance this season, which hopefully will result in another state, and possibly national, championship.

Friday night the Braves ran out of the tunnel lead by stars, Kobe Pepe, Kourt Williams II, Drake Metcalf and D.J. Uiagalelei. Now, the Braves did, however, start the game off a little bit slow, giving up the first touchdown to the Coyotes. The early touchdown can be credited to some pregame nerves, because after that initial touchdown, the Braves came down with the hammer on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

The Braves lock down defense started with limiting the Coyotes to no more touchdowns the remainder of the game. However, Calabasas quarterback Jaden Casey did throw another touchdown, but to Bosco’s defensive back Josh Alford for a pick-six. Alford, Williams and Pepe led the defense with a shutdown mentality.

“They had a lot of weapons on their team offensively, and I feel like altogether we played like a team,” Williams said. “I feel like if we do what we did against Calabasas and we do our jobs and play like a team, that we should come out really well against Corona Centennial this week.”

Offensively, the Braves were led by quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei passing for 268 yards and 2 passing touchdowns. While also receiving some major help from RB Nathaniel Jones who rushed 12 times for a total of 145 yards and 2 touchdowns and WR Kris Hutson who received 6 passes for a total of 119 yards and 1 touchdown. All around, the Braves showed what a team should look when they’re clicking when it counts.

The Braves this Friday will travel to Corona, CA to take on the public school powerhouse of the Inland Empire, the Corona Centennial Huskies. The Braves will attempt to take down the Huskies and make their seventh straight CIF Championship appearance.