On Friday, Oct.24, Jesuit High School football played the Franklin High School Wildcats in what ended up being a very intense match-up. They played under the lights at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove, and Jesuit ended up beating the Wildcats 35-19. The Galley Crew was there, supporting their football team while wearing pink to support breast cancer awareness.

People filed into the Cosumnes Oaks stands one by one, hot chocolate in hand, and settled in for a long, chilly game, as No. 4 Jesuit had their work cut out for them against the No. 8 Wildcats

“Winning wouldn’t be easy, especially going up against an athletic Franklin team,” said junior Theo Christopulos after the game.

Franklin kicked off, and Jesuit came out strong with junior Beau Bisharat breaking through the defense for a 78 yard touchdown just 19 seconds into the game. After stopping Franklin’s first drive, Jesuit was back at it again when senior Cole Brownholtz targeted senior Isaiah Bailey downfield for a massive 87 yard touchdown. 14-0 Marauders.

When asked how much these two touchdowns affected the momentum of the game, Theo said, “It really boosted the team’s confidence against a team that we knew could beat us.”

Franklin wasn’t just about to give up, and the Wildcats scored with 6:19 left in the first quarter, but missed the extra point. As it turns out, this missed point would doom Franklin later in the game. After the first quarter, the score was 14-6 Jesuit. Each teams scored once in the second quarter, and the Marauders went back to the locker room at halftime ahead 21-13.

The second half started off slowly, neither team scoring in the third quarter. The fourth quarter, however, was one to be remembered. Franklin quickly scored with 10 minutes left in the game, but they were down 21-19 because of the missed extra point earlier in the game. They had to go for the two point conversion to tie the game, but Jesuit successfully prevented it.

The Marauders began a long drive that would take up most of the fourth quarter, eventually being forced to call a timeout with almost 4 minutes left to decide what to do in their 4th down and 7 situation. Kicking a field goal wouldn’t do much except put Franklin out of position to win with a field goal, so the Marauders went for it. In arguably the clutchest play of the night, Cole connected with Isaiah again for a touchdown to put Jesuit up 28-19 with just 3:41 to go.

The Marauder defense made another big stop just like it had been doing all night, and soon enough, Beau was once again breaking barriers and running 54 yards straight to the end zone, increasing Jesuit’s lead to a comfortable 35-19.

With about 30 seconds in the game it was Franklin’s last chance to score, but junior Christian Dyer had other ideas. He promptly intercepted a Wildcat pass to seal the game and ensure a Marauder victory. Cole took a knee, and Jesuit came out on top, 35-19. Although the Franklin team put up a good fight towards the end, a few Wildcat injuries and poor decisions ensured another Jesuit win.