DAVIS — After losing to the Davis High School Blue Devils 24-20 last Friday, the Jesuit High School Marauders’ path to win the Delta League title becomes harder to discern. 

Even with a Delta League title perhaps out of reach, defensive tackle Carsen Keim ’21 still believes his team has something to fight for.  

“Our season isn’t over,” Carsen said. “We have a lot of football left if we win our last two games. We must focus on this week first, [and] we can’t underestimate any team as every team will give us their best game.”

As the game clock hit zero, DHS students stormed the field as it was the first time their school defeated Jesuit since the Marauders entered the Delta League in 2014.

The contest was a battle fought on the ground. Both quarterbacks struggled to complete passes with all but one of the scores coming on rushing touchdowns. Jesuit’s passing issues were especially surprising as quarterback Daniel Susac ’20 was fresh off an upset win over Elk Grove High School in which he threw four touchdowns. 

Two of Jesuit’s scores came from running back Kai Santos ’22 on runs of 21 and 7 yards. Kai attributes the loss to his team’s lack of execution. 

“We were in the right places, [but] we just didn’t execute,” Kai said. “This game was in our grasp. We just let it go.”

While Jesuit opted for a traditional running scheme, DHS got creative on offense, subbing in senior receiver Payne Barksdale as quarterback. Barksdale, who did most of his damage on the ground, scored on a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. 

Even with the loss, Lineman Coach Sean Morris is proud of the way his team fought to stay in the game. 

“Our kids battled tonight,”Coach Morris said. “We had multiple opportunities to win this game, but we didn’t capitalize on it.”

This Friday, Oct. 25, Jesuit travels to Sheldon High School to take on the Huskies at 7:15 p.m.

The story originated in the Plank on October 22, 2019. Click Here to view the original article

Photo Credit: Joe Watanabe '21