It’s called the Westside War, the annual football game between the host, Dos Palos Broncos, and the Los Banos Tigers. Last Friday night in Dos Palos, the contest lived up to its name.
During the contest between the two high school rivals, each team scored 3 touchdowns. The game had four lead changes.
After a Tigers punt, the Broncos marched down the field and took an early first-period lead when Nicholas Emery scored on a 17-yard touchdown run. The conversion kick failed, and Dos Palos had a 6-0 advantage with 9:38 left in the opening quarter.
But on their second offensive possession, the Tigers took the lead for the first time, moving 38 yards in five plays and culminating in a Zaevin Cancino to Austin Ladd 14-yard scoring pass. Andrew Loretto kicked the conversion, and Los Banos went up 7-6 with 11:09 left in the second quarter.
The Tigers got the ball back when Maggio Carter recovered a Broncos fumble at the Dos Palos 37-yard line.
Los Banos used some excellent offensive line play provided by Armando Luque, Isaiah Luna, Leonardo Molina, Xzaviyen Orduno and Arath Villalvaso to cover the 37 yards in six plays, with Cancino powering into the end zone from 3 yards out. When Loretto added the extra point, the Tigers had a 14-6 lead.
The Broncos closed the gap to 14-12 when Dos Palos quarterback Nate Galindo scored on a 2-yard run. The conversion kick failed again, resulting in the 14-12 Tigers lead.
With 4:38 left in the game, the Broncos regained the lead when Jake Contreras scored on a 1-yard run. Dos Palos added the conversion kick to give the Broncos a 19-14 lead.
Now it was time for the Tigers to muster a final drive to take the lead late in the contest. A kickoff return by Carter set up Los Banos at the Bronco 47-yard line.
Cancino rushed for 28 yards, moving the ball to the Broncos 22-yard line. Now with the game on the line, the Tigers pulled off the play of the game when Cancino pitched the ball to running back John Snapp, who tossed a 22-yard halfback option pass to a diving Elijah Chiappetta in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.
Snapp added the 2-point conversion, connecting with Jayden Rasberry and giving the Tigers a 22-19 advantage with 2:38 left in the game.
It came down to the Los Banos defense to close out the game, and on a fourth down and 18 yards to go at the Tigers 41-yard line, Carter made the play of the game when he tackled Emery short of the first down marker to preserve the victory for the Tigers.
Cancino paced the Tigers offense with 152 total scrimmage yards. On defense, Robert Valles led Los Banos with 9 tackles, followed by Bradly Villagrana and Moises Perez with 7 tackles each, and Emmanuel Alvarado added 5 stops.
In the JV contest, the young Broncos prevailed over the Tigers by 21-10 despite an excellent game by Los Banos quarterback Adrian De La Cruz (189 yards combined) and some stellar defense by Jorge Olivares (5 tackles), Luke Barrett (5 tackles, sac), Miranda Navarrete (4 tackles), and Grayson Houtekamer and Dominick Porras with 3 stops each.
The Los Banos Tigers Freshman team opened their 2026 football season with a 38-12 defeat at the hands of the VOL powerhouse, Manteca Buffaloes.
Tigers quarterback Logan Ellison had a fine game for the Los Banos offense, completing passes for 103 yards and 2 touchdowns. Landon Bell had 8 tackles, Tyson Bridgeford had 6, and Frank Fernandez had 5.
