The gloomy weather on Saturday, November 5, 2022 was a fitting backdrop and representation of the mood that hung over the Terra Linda High School students and football teams as they walked away from a final score of 27-35 for Varsity and 6-35 for the JV team in a very hard-fought Bell Game against rival San Rafael High School. The Bell Game is a sports tradition dating all the way back to 1962 and marks the end of the football season for the Junior Varsity and Varsity teams. 

This year’s Bell Game in particular took place at Terra Linda’s home field and the stands were packed with students and families clad in blue and gold, waving posters, and cheering on their team. The San Rafael side of the field was considerably less full but certainly not any less spirited. The energy was almost palpable as fans waited with bated breath for a final score, and the cheerleaders’ performance throughout the game helped keep the crowd lively and engaged. Senior varsity cheerleader Stacey Rodas said, “When a game isn’t going TL’s way, the cheer team tries its best to keep the energy at a high level by keeping a positive energy all throughout the game no matter what.” And according to sophomore Emma Onstott, who attended the game and helped promote it as part of ASB, the cheer teams certainly succeeded! “The cheers definitely did keep me engaged, I love seeing the cheerleaders,” she said. 

Rodas remembered on that day of the game, “The last quarter of the game brought out more spirit than ever because of how close SR and TL’s scores were.” TL’s varsity team fought hard and kept the score very close, never straying far behind SR’s lead. 

One of the many great players who can be thanked for this is Varsity team member Jonathan “JP” Hernandez. He has been playing football for three years now and this is his second year on Terra Linda’s Varsity team. During the Bell Game, Hernandez managed to get 13 outstanding tackles! “It was pretty eventful and exciting, both teams fought hard,” Hernandez reflected. 

Regardless of the difficult year the teams may have had, Frosh-Soph Coach Oscar Gomez is very proud of his team’s performance. He commented on the growth that all of the players have had both on and off the field and how much he looks forward to continuing coaching this team. “I’m very excited to coach again next year and continue to build on what we did this season.” Gomez said that despite the losses, there isn’t much he would’ve changed and that he knows the team played their hardest. He concluded by saying, “I’ll definitely remember this team because regardless of the record, they played every game to the very end and never gave up.” The Trojans have definitely shown much improvement throughout the years and like JP Hernandez says “The bell will be ours next year and if we put in the work we will definitely be playoff bound.”