It is said in sports that “you can’t play without your players,” and that rang very true for the Los Banos Tiger varsity football squad (2-8 overall, 1-4 CCC), as they played shorthanded for a large portion of the 2024 season, especially their final game with the Atwater Falcons (8-2 Overall, 4-1 CCC).
The Tigers had no less than 14 players miss significant playing time this year, with the defense hit very hard. Los Banos was without the services of three linebackers (Brayden Milojevich and Adrian Dias and James Jones) as well as lineman Daniel Deffee and Logan Bangert, backs Joshua Gargano, Aaron Briseno, Byron Zuniga and Angel Arce.
The Falcons took advantage of the depleted Tiger defense to score seven times, accounting for their 50 total points, with five of the scores coming on just one play from scrimmage.
The Tiger offense had a very productive night, with quarterback Donovan Greer (20/41 passing, 336 yards, 3 TD’s) and running back Raul Diaz (20 carries, 70 yards, TD) accounting for 406 scrimmage yards.
Greer connected on touchdown passes of 22 and 12 yards to Byron Zuniga (4 receptions, 106 yards, TD) and his twin brother Yahir Zuniga (4 receptions, 45 yards, TD) on an 11-yard score.
Greer also connected with Jack Goodger (4 receptions, 120 yards), Owen Baffunno (3 receptions, 36 yards) and Kolton Kanemoto (2 receptions, 16 yards).
The Los Banos defense suffered a difficult night, but several players turned in stellar performances.
In a limited role, Zarryk Affonso-Stiers had a fine game with three tackles and two fumble recoveries and Jared VanLobenSels and Ethan Briseno each recorded four tackles, and Luke Reyna, Aaron Briseno, Alan Moran and Yahir Zuniga all added three stops for the Tigers.
Los Banos struggled in their first season in the CCC conference, but with several returning skill position players returning for the 2025 season, the future looks much brighter.
