The Coral Gables Senior High football team reached deep into their bag, outdueling Coral Park Senior High School for their first victory of the 2021-2022 season. With a final score of fourteen to seven in favor of the Cavaliers, this matchup was primarily a defensive struggle with some explosive offensive plays by Gables late in the game.

The football game took place Thursday, Oct. 28 at Coral Park and commenced at 3:30 p.m. Dozens of Gables fans came in support of their school, in hopes of seeing their team win.

At first, both schools started off slowly in the first half without much offense. Going into the game, Gables had won their previous seven matchups against Coral Park by at least thirty-five points. However, this time around, both teams played with a strong defense, preventing the other from scoring.

Coral Park struck first with a touchdown in the first quarter and ended up leading seven to zero going into halftime. Nevertheless, Gables regrouped and began to strategize a way to push the ball downfield. As the game went on, the Cavaliers football team did exactly that with quick decision-making and passing from quarterback Andreus Rios.

The Cavaliers ended up scoring in the third quarter with a touchdown pass from quarterback Andreus Rios to wide receiver Jordan Cooper. Not long after, in the fourth quarter, Gables managed to successfully score again with a run play in the endzone to defensive tackle Lucas Paez.

“The thing that sparked the offense in the second half was not giving up and having full confidence in ourselves to score each drive and win the game,” sophomore Andreus Rios said.

With an ample lead deep into the fourth quarter, all that was left for Gables was to sustain it. Pushing further, the Gables defense managed two sacks in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.

After the game, Cavaliers players and coaches celebrated their first win as a team on the field. Players ran onto the field to congratulate each other as well as the coaches who stood alongside them.

“It felt amazing [to win]. We finally executed as a team. The environment was second to none. The behavior by everyone was spectacular. We were very hyped and could barely contain ourselves,” freshman Evan Noval said.

Even though Thursday’s game was a reason for excitement amongst Cavaliers, the Gables football team has bigger plans for the rest of the fall season. They will face off against the Southwest Eagles on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. to play in their final game for the 2021-2022 season. Cavaliers football has placed its eyes on next week’s matchup versus Southwest and hopes to finish with a two to five record to cap their 2021-2022 campaign.