The Dos Pueblos High School varsity football team kicked off their homecoming weekend with a 27-8 victory over Hueneme High School, starting off league play 1-0.
“We’re 1-0 in the league,” coach Alexandros Pateras said. “Only three teams could have done that this week, and we did it.”
The tone was quickly set on offense with quarterback Drew Shultz (12) breaking free on a 70-yard rushing touchdown four minutes into the first quarter, putting the Chargers on the board with a score of 7-0.
The rest of the first quarter remained at 7-0, ending on a DPHS punt to Hueneme.
The second quarter opened with a false start penalty on DPHS, marking the start of the Chargers’ trouble with penalties. Most of the quarter followed with a series of defensive stands from both teams, as possessions repeatedly ended in quick three-and-outs.
Penalties continued to slow the Chargers’ offense midway through the quarter, including holding, false start, and “unnecessary roughness” calls that left them facing a third-and-30 situation.
“We made a lot of mistakes tonight, made a lot of penalties,” Pateras said, “If we’re going to play
this way next week, we’re going to have our hands full.”
Despite the setbacks, the Chargers’ defense stayed consistent, preventing Hueneme from reaching the end zone heading into halftime.
With the homecoming dance scheduled for the following night, the crowning ceremony for homecoming royalty took place during halftime, ending with class president and cheer captain Valeria Delgado (12) being crowned queen, and football captain Kaarlo Malik Anderson (12) being crowned king.
“It feels absolutely crazy that I won,” Delgado said. “I wasn’t really confident that I was going to win.”
For the past week, the 14 seniors on homecoming court, had been participating in DP News interviews and lunchtime activities to connect with students and earn votes.
“It’s an experience not everybody gets to go through, so when you get to do it, you cherish it and enjoy watching everything that happens behind the scenes,” Anderson said.
Not only was Anderson on homecoming court, but he was also one of the field playing in the homecoming game.
“It’s a little bit nerve-wracking,” Anderson said. “There’s a lot going on, but playing and being on the court at the same time you kind of just have to focus on one thing so I just had to try and manage both.”
Coming into the second half, tensions began to rise when a brief scuffle nearly broke out at the 8:10 mark, leading to personal foul penalties on both teams. However, the Chargers weren’t affected; soon after, Chase Johnson (11) scored on a one-yard rushing touchdown, extending DPHS’s lead 14-0.
In the fourth quarter, with nine minutes left on the clock, Shultz completed a 40-yard pass to Callan Lee (12) for another touchdown, increasing the Chargers lead 21-0. The defense continued to hold Hueneme scoreless until late in the game, when the they managed a five-yard touchdown pass and converted a two-point attempt, making the score 21-8.
After regaining possession, Lee broke free again for a 47-yard rushing touchdown with only 39 seconds left remaining. The extra point was missed, leaving the final score of the game 27-8.
“It was an electric run,” Pateras said. “We needed a spark in the backfield and that’s what he gave us.”
Lee finished the night with a total of two touchdowns and 173 yards.
With the Chargers now second in league at 1-0, they’ll look to carry their momentum into next week’s matchup against Agoura High School at home. Pateras emphasized that while the win was a strong start, the team’s focus is on reducing mistakes and maintaining discipline, as league games continue.
“We need to continue on how to be smarter football players, so we have a lot of clean up to do,” Pateras said. “But I’m really proud of how we played, we played hard. That was never a question tonight.”
