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Picture by Jennifer Quijada

The Quartz Hill Rebels football team, for the second year in a row, made it to the CIF championship game. However, this year, the Rebels took home the championship title, with a score of 26-21. The game took place on Saturday, December 2nd at 7:00 p.m. Quartz Hill was ranked 5th overall in their division and had a record of 12 wins and 1 loss. Dos Pueblos, the opposing team, was ranked 2nd overall in their division and matched Quartz Hill’s record of 12-1.

Due to the fact that the Rebel team lost their championship game last year, the pressure was on for this year’s team to win. The first touchdown was scored by Quartz Hill, but Dos Pueblos was quick to follow with their own touchdown. The first quarter of the game ended with a tie score of 7-7. However, the Rebels quickly dominated the field, scoring a second touch down in the second quarter and ending with a seven point lead at half-time.

Kiran Jain, varsity football player for QHHS on the defensive end, expressed how the team felt before the game started. He stated, “The entire team was very confident that [they] would pull through with a win as long as they played like they usually do.” But obviously, tensions were still high: “There was a lot of trash talking between both teams. The farther the game progressed, the more tension was felt between [the players].”

Quartz Hill retained their lead in the third quarter, entering the fourth quarter with a score of 20 to 14. Up to this point, the crowd was confident that the Rebel team would take home the championship title, however, the energy drastically changed within the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. The score was 21-26 when Dos Pueblos had possession of the ball, charging it within inches of the end zone. However, Quartz Hill’s strong defense stopped the other team, ending the game in victory. Had Dos Pueblos scored a touchdown, the win would have gone to them.

Ethan Riegert, a varsity football player on the QH team, showed how excited he and the team were regarding the Rebel win, revealing that “[he] and a few friends took pictures with the plaque and hugged a few of [his] closer friends on the team.” He was so ecstatic that he even “shed a few tears from the amount of happiness [he] felt.”

Nelson Rios, an excited fan, expressed what it was like to watch the final minutes of the game from the stands, stating that “it was nerve wracking seeing the other team so close to scoring, which would have led to their victory.” Nevertheless, he never lost hope in our team and knew they would “pull through and bring home the win.”

The overall star of the game was Matthew Tago, scoring 3 out of the 4 touchdowns. The other touchdown was scored by Entonio Washington.

All in all, the game ended well, and QHHS Rebels will forever pride themselves for this terrific team that brought home the championship title.