Ravens Snap Broncos’ Win-Streak and Take League Championship

Last Friday was the biggest game of the year for the Broncos so far. Flying high with a 6 game win streak and home field advantage the Broncos came in looking to take the title of League Champions for themselves, and send the Bronco faithful home happy. The defense came out looking to get the Broncos off to a strong start and delivered, forcing the Ravens into a 3rd and 33 situation, where they punted on 3rd down. The Bronco offense, however, could not capitalize on the early possession and had to punt the ball away as well, with Ravens ending up with the ball on their own 3-yard line. After their 5th false start of the game, the Ravens fumbled the ball, and it was picked up by Darren Dondero.

The turnover ended up leading to a Bronco TD via a 20 yard run by Luke McClean. Cal City then got on track, answering McClean’s TD with one of their own on a 53-yard pass. The Broncos then were forced to punt the ball away on their next drive, which led to a 90 yard TD pass by the Ravens. The Broncos got the ball back to open up the second quarter but turned the ball over for the second time in the game on an interception, but there were no scores before the end of the half.

The Broncos got the ball back to start the half, getting started quickly with a 15-yard rushing TD by Wesley Pettet. The Ravens couldn’t answer that last touchdown, punting the ball away again. McClean then completed a long pass to Manny Talavera that got the Broncos inside the 40. Despite the Broncos relative success, the offense was facing a big problem, the Cal City defense. This was clearly evident when the Ravens sacked McClean and were able to get a scoop and score, for Bishop’s third turnover of the night.

In the fourth quarter, the Bronco’s struggled to answer that score, punting the ball away to Ravens where the defense did a good job on holding their offense. The Bronco D forced a big third-down play where Mark Mayhugh found his way into the action again, bringing a Cal City receiver to the ground on a pass play that would have forced a fourth down situation for the Ravens; however, the referees made a questionable pass interference call, giving the Ravens a fresh set of downs and 15 yards. The Ravens capitalized on this with a big pass that got the Ravens down to the 4-yard line. TIan D’Beaupre came up with a big stop bringing the Ravens player down for a 10-yard loss, but despite all their best efforts, they just couldn’t keep the Ravens out of the end zone forever. The Ravens scored a TD on a run, which put them up by two scores. There was still some sliver of hope for the Broncos with Paco’s big 50-yard kickoff return, but no amount of fight they had could keep the Cal City defense from breaking through the offensive line. McClean got sacked for the 5th time in the game leading to a fourth-down incompletion, marking the fourth and final turnover for the Broncos in the game. The Ravens came out in victory formation, took a knee, and celebrated their victory as the clock ran out.

When asked how they would rebound from this loss, Palu said that “A major goal this season was to have a home playoff game. This Friday marks the first time that we’ve had a home playoff game in the since 2012” adding that this opportunity is “exciting”. Since Wesley Pettet is out with a shoulder injury, Palu said that their philosophy for filling that void is “next guy up. We’re gonna ask Paco to do more offensively, and have Manny Talavera take some reps in the running game. We’re also gonna let Tian get more opportunities on defense.” Palu also said that “defensively our goal is to always take away a strength, for Cal City it was their running game. They just had athletes that were able to make plays. When a team makes those kinds of adjustments, you just have to tip your hat.” As for this week’s upcoming game, Palu says that “We’re always trying to get better in everything we do. We have a new opponent this week, and we see a few things we can take advantage of, so we’re gonna look to get that done.”

Come out to root for your Broncos this Friday when they take on Dos Palos in their first playoff game this season.  The game begins at 6pm.

Bronco Stats
Luke McClean- 3-8 with 45 passing yards, 34 rushing yards on 13 carries, 7 receiving yards on 1 reception
Wesley Pettet- 59 rushing yards on 12 carries
Steven Paco- 23 rushing yards on 7 carries
Manny Talavera- 47 receiving yards on 2 receptions, 6 tackles, 3 solos
Jaden Braithwaite- 10 receiving 1 reception
Darren Dondero- 8 tackles, 4 solos
Tristan Valle- 6 tackles, 4 solos

Football, Bronco Football, Broncos, Bishop, BUHS, League Championship