Fierce lightning was in abundance Friday night at the football game.
However, it wasn’t quite the charge the Cards had hoped to get to propel them to their first victory of the season.
The Cards faced the Heritage Christian Eagles on the road Friday, Sept. 20, and ended up coming short 44-34.
“We train for victory and expect it, so it’s never a good feeling to lose,” senior Fabian Tapscott said. “We get coached right, we just make mistakes. Once we fix those, we’ll start seeing some wins.”
The Cards started the game off strong with an early touchdown by junior running back Riley Matlock.
The Eagles responded with 20 unanswered points, making the score 20-8 before the weather took a turn.
As lightning scattered across the sky, the officials announced that the game had been postponed, immediately urging fans to seek shelter with 7 minutes and 57 seconds left in the second quarter.
The following hour, fans waited patiently to see if the game would be resumed.
After the interruption, officials announced that the game was back on. When play resumed, the Cards started with the ball.
Matlock once again rushed for a touchdown followed by the extra point by sophomore Edgar Coronado.
Down by two touchdowns, senior Ricky Sanders returned a kickoff for an 86 yard touchdown.
Throughout the third quarter, the Cardinals tried to stay neck and neck with the Eagles but struggled to get ahead.
“There (were) just too many mistakes. Those are what killed us,” Head Coach Alex Bettag said.
The Cards defense started strong in the fourth quarter.
Senior Dalyn Tralyor brought the Cards back in the game with an interception that ended up getting taken all the way back for a touchdown.
The secondary for the Cards did exceptionally well, with junior Jeremiah Stanovic and Sanders also having an interception for themselves.
Senior Malachi Kennedy ended the game with eight tackles, one for loss, and defending five passes.
Unfortunately, the Eagles came well prepared and dominated the field.
In the last moments of the game, the Eagles took a knee in victory formation to run down the clock.
The final score of the game was 44-34, crushing the Cards’s hopes of winning their first game of the season.
Next week, the Cards take on Bloomington South and are prepared to pull out their first victory of the season.
