After the best start Roseville High School varsity football has seen in 10 years, the Tigers took their first loss of the season last Friday night, falling 42-7 to the Antelope Titans. The Tigers, now 2-1 in league, are tied for second place in the Capital Valley Conference with the Cosumnes Oaks Wolfpack.

Both teams marched onto the field on Friday night with 5-0 undefeated records, leading many people to believe that the game would feature a tight matchup.

Instead, the Titans were able to showcase exactly why they have the highest scoring offense in the CVC, which averaged 46 points per game leading up to the clash.

Led by star running back senior Elijah Dotson, the Titans ran through the Tiger defense with ease, scoring six touchdowns while managing to hold the offense to one.

This was a shock to the Tiger attack as, up until Friday, they averaged almost 37 points per game and allowed an average of only 24 per game. Senior running back Jay Razzano feels that all aspects of the team struggled on Friday as opposed to a specific unit.

“Not just one thing went wrong [on Friday] night,” Razzano said. “Our defense let them score 42, which is too much, but our offense only scored seven, which isn’t enough, so it was a full team loss.”

Razzano refuses to let the loss define the team. Instead, he believes that what happens from this point forward will shape their character.

“What defines our team this season is how we bounce back from this loss and how we stick together to work harder with a chip on our shoulder for the rest of our season,” Razzano said. “Our team has tremendous heart and we want this more than anything.”

Senior linebacker Nico Andrada feels that this loss will motivate the boys to recover and improve.

“Our team has grit,” Andrada said. “When something doesn’t go right it makes us want to work even harder. We have great leaders and players, and I have faith in our team’s ability to bounce back and put up a fight against any other team we may see this season.”

Head coach Larry Cunha still believes in his team’s ability to finish the season strong.

With playoff hopes in mind, he attempted to lift the Tigers’ spirits after Friday’s loss by reminding them that they only have one tough team left on their schedule: the Whitney Wildcats.

In his opinion the Titans have three strong teams left, meaning that the Tigers could still have a shot at the CVC title.

Despite the loss, the Tigers still had a very impressive string of wins on their journey to last Friday. They came back from an early 17-0 deficit to defeat Cosumnes Oaks 42-24 two weeks ago, holding the Wolfpack to zero points in the second half.

Many of the boys feel that this was the best moment of the year as this was their first time beating the Wolfpack since entering the CVC.

“My proudest moment was beating Cosumnes [Oaks], just because that was the only team in the CVC that we haven’t beat yet, so finally getting a chance to win and beat them was the best feeling,” Andrada said.

The Tigers are set to face off against the 0-6 Bella Vista Broncos this Friday night.

“Our goal is 9-1,” Andrada said. “We have to adapt to our circumstances. We need one more win to seal a playoff spot but right now all we’re focused on is our next game, Bella Vista.”