On our way to Cornerstone Middle School, our CSDR players were thinking about the upcoming game. Last year Cornerstone beat CSDR twice—30-0 and 36-0. Not an easy reputation to overcome. Despite the enthusiasm of the players that score loomed in the back of their minds and they knew they had their work cut out for them at this game.

Cornerstone is located about 15 miles south of Lake Elsinore, in the town of Wildomar, CA. There is a beautiful brand new Hollywood-like sign, “CORNERSTONE” located right in front of the football field. Just a subtle reminder that in addition to the pressure of last year’s score, we were also playing on the opponents home turf.

Nevertheless, I’m proud to say that the team arrived really pumped and ready to go! As we entered the field we couldn’t help but notice that the Cornerstones’ uniforms looked pretty sharp. They were all black with white stripes and when we first saw the entire team we had to admit that they looked like a tough team to beat! But that didn’t scare the CSDR team because they were coming out from our RED RAGE CAVE! (A new chant created this year.)

We hit the field running—literally! We started the game with an amazing 60-yard run from Angel Aragon! He also brought the team another 2 points after the first touchdown. We struggled with yellow flags. Believe it or not, during just the first half of the game, CSDR was penalized a total of 90 yards! But we didn’t allow yellow flags to get in our way and our defense was amazing! Our great linebacker, Dario Zaldivar was all over the field and our defensive linemen were ready for Cornerstone! Paul Padilla, Luke Garcia, Angel Aragon, and Thomas York each sacked a quarterback! (You could see a huge improvement in our tackling skills compared to our first game. It used to take a few players to tackle another player, but now these guys were making tackles on their own!)

As the clock on the first half ran down, our running back Angel Aragon was worn out due to the 97 degree weather. But our other players picked up the slack as Sentayehu Krohm rushed 60 yards for the first time and carried the ball into the end zone for his first touchdown! That brought us another six points and we added two more with a conversion carried by Joshua Macedo.
At the end of the first half the score was 16-0, with CSDR in the lead!

Even after playing some tough football in the first half in the scorching sun, the players were still in high spirits and ready to go in the second half after just a short rest under a tree.

The second half opened with a kickoff from Cornerstone. We continued to struggle with yellow flags because of the miscommunication between the coaches and referees. Once we cleared that up, Angel Aragon carried the ball for almost 80 yards and just before he crossed the end zone, he fumbled! It was Paul Padilla to the rescue as he stopped the ball carrier before gaining any more yards. We sent out our mighty defensive player and stopped their momentum! We continued to play fantastic offense and defense. Mikey Reyes and Brandon Castro helped out by making several tackles! The score was locked at 24-0 until Sentayehu Krohm caught his second wind. Once he was given the ball he took off for almost 75 yards and snagged his second touchdown of the game!

Cornerstone’s intimidating sign and their flashy uniforms proved to be no match for our Cubs! Our defense established a goal to complete the game with no points allowed! They players pulled out all the stops and held Cornerstone at bay. WE WON 30 to 0!
Its been 5 long years since CSDR shut out any of our opponents. Before this game, Cornerstone had beaten CSDR 6 years in a row!

We are extremely proud of the entire team. They did their best and represented CSDR with class. Our coaches couldn’t have asked for more from our players. But we did ask them to rest well and to enjoy the weekend because come Monday, we are going to start the week like a new season!