Going into Thursday’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Castaic Coyotes entered the contest on the heels of scoring a combined 88 points through two games.
With a high-scoring offense and opportunity to begin the season 3-0 for the first time in program history, the Coyotes looked poised for a big night against Cleveland at Valencia High School.
Instead, Cleveland’s defense shut down Castaic’s offense and prevailed, 45-7, and dropped the Coyotes to 2-1.
“Hats off to Cleveland, they did a really good job,” Castaic head coach Sirr Guy Shakir said. “Defensively, with some of the stuff they were doing, it really made us kind of hesitate a little bit. We didn’t handle it well.”
Going into the game, Castaic’s offense had the best start to a season it could’ve asked for.
After outscoring its opponents 88-27, the Coyotes entered Thursday with multiple players having multi-touchdown games.
By halftime in Thursday’s loss to Cleveland, the Coyotes were held to just 59 total yards of offense.
In the first quarter alone, the Coyotes committed two costly fumbles recovered by the Cavaliers.
Cleveland’s offense went on to score off the turnovers and built upon their lead to take a 28-0 lead going into halftime.
Shakir spoke on the costly mistakes and said that ball security is a point of emphasis to work on for future games.
“That’s something we got to work on,” he said. “When you play a good team, a talented team, a well-coached team, you can’t help them. And we did that tonight and they took advantage of it.”
In the second half, the Coyotes’ offense started to come alive.
In the third quarter’s final seconds, sophomore quarterback Cody King connected with junior receiver Takai Bogan for a 22-yard touchdown.
By the end of the night, the lone touchdown was the only score for the Coyotes.
King ended the day having completed 10 for 20 pass attempts and 120 yards. Offensively, the Coyotes were limited to 173 yards of total offense.
“They were more physical than us, especially in the first half. It kind of put us in a hole a little bit,” Shakir said. “So, then we kind of had to just battle the way out.”
The Coyotes will look to bounce back next Thursday on the road in a matchup against the Oak Park Eagles.
The Eagles, who are 2-0 to begin the season, have outscored their opponents 91-18, and are ranked as the No. 5 team in Division 7 for the Southern Section, according to MaxPreps.
Next week’s matchup will be a tough one for Shakir and his Coyotes, but the coach reiterated that it’s a new opportunity to come away with a win.
“Just need to sort a few guys out and get ready for next week. This was a real eye opener,” Shakir said. “Some of our holes were exposed a little bit. But football is beautiful because you get the chance to go back and work on it.”
The Coyotes take on the Eagles Thursday at Oak Park High School with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.
