The time has come once again to watch the Borrego Springs High School football team under those gleaming Friday night lights, and have those stands rocking with pride.

Third year head coach Tim White is excited for the season, as he believes everybody is being guided in the right direction on offense, defense and special teams.

“I think we’ll be better in just about every aspect of the game because of our experience, and our depth,” White said, as he reflected back on the win against the West Shores Wildcats in their season opener, despite not having two of their captains playing.

This year’s 18-man roster consists of core talents, with a ton of seniors and three freshmen, who, according to White, have already been contributing tremendously.

The Rams lost three seniors, who were a huge impact on the team, but White and his staff have already prepared who will fill those roles, and from what they saw in their first game, are impressed.

Justin Lopez was the teams’ fullback and middle linebacker on defense, who led the team in yards rushing and tackles with 25.

Junior Ty White is currently in that position but is projected to move to other positions, so that he can be utilized as a backup quarterback to senior Fernando Alcaraz. He was a stellar quarterback last year for the team, his first year of the position with an average of 47 yards per game, may also see playing time in other spots. But White said junior Octavio Delgado will step in and assume Justin’s former role, and believes he will get the job done. Delgado was a force to be reckoned with, as his blocks and hits last year were sure one could have and should have not missed.

Oscar Barron, another senior who graduated in June, was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the league last season, and played offensive guard.

“I really see senior Luis Fernandez stepping up on offense and defense, and taking over a lot of that responsibility,” White said. “He’s been phenomenal for us so far and we’re very excited to see him continue that with the season to come.”

Alongside of Fernandez, senior Lucas Morales has been called on to help fill that role, too.

After a season-ending injury sidelining him all of last season, senior Angel Fregoso is back to fulfill the full-time guard role, but only after he is fully cleared to play, White added. Senior Victor Arias will fill in the gap of tight end, and possibly linebacker, previously filled by Oscar Fuentes.

“I’m just really excited to see all these guys step up and contribute to these roles, usually roles they are not normally used to playing,” White said. “Then to see them play it better than expected or what is asked of them is just great. This team is amazing.”

In terms of improvement, work, work and more work, are needed for a playoff appearance, a league championship, and more importantly, a CIF championship.

Last season, the team went 5 – 5 overall and 3 – 3 in Citrus 8-man League play, finishing in fourth place last season.

However, this season, the leagues have been shaken up a bit with new opponents in the Citrus League.

According to White, the league was determined by CIF based solely on power rankings. There are currently 13 teams playing 8-man this year, 14 if you include San Pasqual, who are actually independent, so they don’t have a set league.

“The commissioner wants 14 teams to have a CIF playoff and a champion, and the assistant commissioner for the state CIF wants to have an 8-man championship game, as well,” White explained on the change.

“That’s probably not going to happen until San Diego Section awards a CIF champion, so that we can have a Southern Section, that way Southern California play in games to represent the South versus the North in the state game.”

The team will still be playing many of their opponents from last season, however, they will no longer be league games.

The Rams opened the 2018 – 19 season with a win at West Shores Aug. 24. The last time these two teams met, Borrego Springs fell, 47 – 7, and the outcome was definitely much better this time around, besting the Wildcats, 35 – 14. At the half, the Rams were up by one, 15 – 14, and then kicked it into gear in the second half scoring 30 unanswered points.

The Rams also played the San Pasqual Dragons in their home opener Aug. 31, which took place after print.

Crosstown rival, the Julian Eagles, will visit the Rams here at home in a non-league matchup Friday Sept. 7. Kickoff begins at 7 p.m. This is the first of four “Touchdowns Against Cancer” Games. When the two teams met last season up in Julian in mid-October, the weather sure played a huge factor.

“This time we won’t be freezing,” White chuckled, as he looks forward to facing Julian at home this season. “I hope we are able to turn up the heat on the Eagles. They did a good job of freezing us out last year, and our numbers and our depth got the best of us in that second half, but I’d also be lying if I didn’t say that the weather and the amount of time we had to huddle behind the fire truck didn’t have an impact on us, because we were freezing.”

White is looking forward to playing on a leveled playing field, a legit game at night with decent weather.

This seasons goals are no different from last year. First things first – an undefeated season.

“We legitimately have a chance to go undefeated this season. The only thing stopping us is ourselves,” White said. “We want to win a league championship, and a CIF championship, or the commissioner’s cup.

Last season, none were offered to Borrego. The final game was a game with the top two teams, and the season was called, due to the fact that by the end of the season, there were not enough teams for playoff play.

“We’re hoping there’s enough teams this year for the CIF to offer us a playoff, and if we don’t, we hope to be offered the commissioner’s cup so the kids have something to play for,” White said, in hopes of a better post-season outcome.

The Rams have come close to a CIF championship, but fell short of that run.

“There’s no CIF championship banner up in the gym, and I’d like to change that,” White said. “I’d love nothing more than putting up that banner at the end of our season.”