August 19, 2022, on a Friday night, was Quartz Hill High School’s first home football game of the 2022-23 season. The Quartz Hill High School Varsity Football team lost their first home game against Oxnard with a score of 27-19.

The Royal’s football team has been training since the end of last school year to start preparing for this year’s season. According to player Deven Booker, preparations consisted of intense training, many “gassers and bear crawls,” and studying the opposing team’s films to reflect and improve their style of play. They also recently had a scrimmage against St. Francis High School to help get them ready for the new season. Unfortunately, they lost 21-14, but it enabled them to keep up when playing against Oxnard in a subsequent game. For example, last year, the varsity football team also played Oxnard but lost 50-0; this year, they lost 27-19, which is a significant improvement.

The first touchdown was made by the opposing team, which was scored off of a kickoff at the beginning of the game. The Royals were doing a great job defensively throughout the first quarter, with great tackles from Toa Tuuholoaki, Houston Brown, Jayden Baer, and Dorsey Davis. Then, towards the last quarter, the Royals picked up their offensive pace with a fantastic touchdown by Oliver Weese made through a head toss. David Strean also made an incredible catch and had multiple great runs throughout the game. Overall, the Royals played very well defensively throughout most of the game.

A beautiful tribute also honored former football player and graduate Aiden Agnor before the game. Agnor’s brother held up a flag with his number, and everyone in the stands and on the field had a moment of silence in honor of Agnor’s memory. Students also handed out bracelets with Aiden’s name and number in remembrance. The cheerleaders wore shirts with Agnor’s name and number while his flag was driven on one of the carts around the track.

Although the Royals lost, many future opportunities remain to bring home a win.