The MacArthur football team went 0-2 at the SAUSD intermediate school tournament.   The games took place at Valley High School on Saturday, October 2. Despite six weeks of practice, seven players were ruled ineligible because of low grades.  Students need a minimum of a 2.0 G.P.A. to play in organized sports.

 The first game MacArthur played was a loss to McFadden, with the final score ending at 20-0.  The second game was a closer, 6-0 loss to Mendez Fundamental.  Because MacArthur lost both games in their grouping, they did not advance in the tournament. 

Team Coach Mr. Washington said, “Watching the players have fun is the highlight of the game,” despite the fact that the team did not achieve their goals.

According to Washington, the way that he came up with his roster was that he saw how the players performed on the field and the level of effort they gave.  Also, Washington wanted students to achieve their goals in the classroom.

The seven ineligible players would have helped out the team, but the players on the field that day had played as best as they could.  Washington said, “As a coach, I could have done better placing them in the field.”  

Eighth-grader Julian H. said, “I wish that I could have played, so the team could have had a better chance in winning the tournament.”

Two of the seven ineligible players were quarterbacks.  After six weeks of practice, it was impossible to plug in a third-string quarterback and compete at a high level.  In football, the quarterback is most responsible for moving the ball down the field.  Because MacArthur did not score a point in tournament play, the lack of quarterback play definitely hurt the team.  

Before the tournament, MacArthur did scrimmage against Esqueda K-8 but did not meet that team during tournament play.

In 2019, MacArthur had won first place at the tournament while being coached by Computer Tech Mr. Jesus Lozano. Lozano had moved on to another school, though, and this was Washington’s first time as a MacArthur coach.  The athletic season continues with girls basketball and boys soccer coming up next.