Galileo’s 2017 Spring Ball sea­son is cur­rently in ses­sion. With major offen­sive weapons return­ing from a high scor­ing 2016 sea­son, the Lions are ready to light up the score­board at the spring game. Return­ing QB, Adrian Poot will be a force with his abil­ity to spread the ball around. The 2016 AAA Run­ning Back of the Year, Yarvell Smith will look to show the world what he can do as a sopho­more next sea­son but until then he is going to be a huge prob­lem for Galileo’s defense in the spring game. Smith, a more than capa­ble line­backer, will also get on the other side of the ball more this upcom­ing sea­son. Other key offen­sive weapons to look­out for are sure-handed wide­outs Jackie Guo and Erasmo Rivas. The biggest unknown for Galileo will be how it’s offen­sive line will respond from los­ing three seniors: it’s line is hing­ing on three rookie big boys; Thomas San­tos, Eric Lar­rey­naga, and Max Miles. Defen­sively, with the depar­ture of all-city play­ers; Con­nor Chavela (MLB), Demaje Ardis (OLB), and Miles Main­ini (DE), the Lions will fea­ture upcom­ing juniors, Ronald Fox (FS), Anto­nio McBride (MLB), and Johan Lacayo (DE/LB).

The Future Shines in Lions End-of-Season Play­off Loss

Galileo V 06–19 25
Mis­sion V 22–27 49

A Galileo fum­ble by fresh­man run­ning back, Yarvell Smith on the open­ing kick­off allowed Mis­sion to take a 6–0 lead in the first minute of the 2016 play­off game at Kezar. The Lions mounted an answer but an ille­gal for­ma­tion flag nul­li­fied a touch­down pass from Adrian Poot to Jackie Guo. The Bears would add another touch­down before Smith scored from 24-yards out to put the Lions on the board. Galileo’s play­off inex­pe­ri­ence was notable in the open­ing half as Mis­sion reclaimed momen­tum with another score right before half­time to take a 22–6 lead and all the air out of the Lions’ sails.

Big Plays High­light Pre­quel to Play­off Showdown

Galileo V 28–08 36
Mis­sion V 26–16 42

Com­ing into their last reg­u­lar sea­son game, the Galileo Lions knew that a win against the #1 seed Mis­sion Bears would guar­an­tee a play­off spot. If that fails, there is a less heroic route to the play­offs that cul­mi­nates with a Bur­ton loss at Lin­coln the #2 seed-this was almost a guar­an­tee and it became a real­ity when Lin­coln dom­i­nated a dec­i­mated Bur­ton ros­ter to win 42–6. How­ever, Galileo was play­ing Mis­sion at the same time and would not know Burton’s demise until after their game. In other words, the Lions came out swing­ing and sling­ing as if their lives depended on it. In the end, this high­light reel game for both teams that turned into a nar­row escape by the Bears, didn’t mat­ter. After Mis­sion picked off a Galileo pass at Mission’s own 5-yard line with 30 sec­onds left in the game, the Lions were dec­i­mated but it was a quick 180 when the Lions received news of the Bur­ton loss-they hur­ried off the field know­ing that they will have another shot at the Bears in the playoffs.

Lions Come Up Short in First League Game at Home

Galileo V 13–00 13
Bal­boa V 06–14 20

In a game with play­off impli­ca­tions, Galileo was the one left out of the dance as Bal­boa took the lead for good after a 1-yard plunge with 25 sec­onds remain­ing in the game. With it’s back against the ropes the entire game, the Lions’ defense held fast with 2 forced fum­bles, 1 at their 5 yard­line prior to the Bucs’ win­ning drive, and a key tackle by cor­ner­back, Dono­van Has­son, to keep the Bucs’ a yard away from 6 points. Has­son also picked off a pass in the game.

Galileo Offense Fal­ters with Chance to Win

Galileo V 08–10 18
Lin­coln V 14–21 21

Galileo failed to con­vert on it’s first two red­zone pos­ses­sions to leave the door open for the Mus­tangs to strike first. The Lions also failed to con­vert in it’s last red­zone pos­ses­sion to allow Lin­coln to escape with a 21–18 vic­tory. The loss drops Galileo to 2–2 in league.