The Varsity Bruin football team’s winning season has now ended. After clawing their way through the Pioneer Valley League and tearing opponents to shreds in rounds one and two of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, they enjoyed a major victory in the Division V title game against local rival, the Colfax Falcons. Last Saturday, the Bruins ride ended with a 34-20 loss to the Fortuna Huskies.
In round one, the Bear River Bruins, No.6, took on the Capital Christian Cougars, No.3, down at Capital Christian school in Sacramento, beating their opponents 26-7. In round two, the Bruins defeated the Ripon Indians, No.7, at home with a score of 14-7.
On Saturday, November 25, the Bruins took on the Colfax Falcons, No.5, for the Division V title down at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. The Bruins took home the victory, 30-27, and are now the reigning champions of Division V.
Even though the Bruins lost the NorCal Bowl game against the Huskies, players said it was an extreme victory just to have beaten Colfax. The current Bruin players had never beaten the Falcons until this game.
“We’ve never beaten Colfax before, our class (seniors) and the junior class all the way back through freshman and JV,” said Senior Stephen Taylor. “It felt nice to finally beat them.”
Senior Luke Baggett agreed with Taylor.
“It was huge, because it was in the section title game, and it was the first time anybody on our team had beaten Colfax,” he said. “It was just a special moment.”
Baggett elaborated on some of the issues with why the Bruins lost to the Huskies.
“They had the home field advantage, so they were used to their field and we weren’t,” he said. “While we can blame it on a lot of different things, it just came down to they wanted it more than we did.”
The Bruins first entered playoffs with confidence and swagger.
“(We were) nervous of course, but confident,” said Head Coach Scott Savoie. “We were the underdogs going in but I felt that all the pressure was on Colfax and that we could beat them. Our team has confidence and a bit of swagger. Not in a cocky way, just confident in each other.”
Caulder Kunde, a junior, agreed with Coach Savoie about confidence being a key part of the win.
“I felt pretty confident,” remarked Kunde. “We had a lot of time to prepare for the game.”
Coach Savoie believed the team’s family mentality also helped them on this amazing journey.
“Our team is a family,” said Coach Savoie. “They are like a bunch of brothers and a sister! They don’t always get along but neither do siblings. They protect each other and stick.”
Kunde agreed that everything was a team effort.
“We knew it was a win or go home, so we all wanted to win and we all won and fought together,” Kunde said.
This rollercoaster experience is some students’ biggest accomplishment.
“It’s probably the biggest accomplishment I’ve had in football for the past 10 years that I’ve played, it feels awesome,” said Taylor.
Shelbi Beghetti, a junior, thought the experience was worth it even though they lost.
“It was definitely an amazing experience to be part of the team that has gone the farthest in our school history,” Beghetti said. “To just be able to beat that record is an honor to have for a team that we can carry for the rest of our lives. Obviously, it’s pretty upsetting knowing that we were so close to being able to go to state and that would have been so great to do and we just couldn’t pull it off in the end.”
The Bruins are ready for whatever next season holds.
“We just have to focus and keep what we did in the past behind us and focus on the future,” Kunde remarked.
