The Bowl Blog: Stay Connected and Focused

Throughout the week leading up to Citrus College Football's tilt with Saddleback College in the Beach Bowl, Citrus sophomore offensive lineman Blake Luevano will be blogging for citrusowls.com. Today's installment is the first Bowl Blog. 

Entering my 3rd year at Citrus College I was excited about building on the previous success of last season. Last season we were 2 wins away from making the State Playoffs. Every offseason the team sets goals for the upcoming season. One of those goals was making it to the postseason and appearing in a bowl game.

When camp finally began, in the heat of the summer in August, we worked together day in and day out with our minds set to reach the post season. Throughout the dog days of the summer and into the beginning of the season we began to see our hard work paying off. Due to the success of the previous 2 seasons we began the year ranked in the top 20 in the state and top 30 nationally. But we didn't want to stop there; we wanted to shock the world with how good we really are. When the season progressed we hit some bumps in the road taking three losses that had ultimately eliminated us from the playoff race to win a state championship.

We knew now we had to face some adversity if we wanted to continue on the route to a bowl game. The team had to put the past behind us and focus on the opponents ahead of us. To reach a bowl game we had to take care of some unfinished business which was the rest of our remaining schedule. We stayed focused and worked harder. We bonded with each other and soon we began to click as a whole unit.

Once we got rolling we couldn't stop, the last four games we were averaging almost forty-five points per game, and almost four-hundred and fifty yards per game. As the regular season ended this past Saturday November the sixteenth, we had to just wait and see who the California Community College Athletic Association would pair us up with for the bowl game.

Finally we found out around noon this past Sunday that we were going to play Saddleback College in the Beach Bowl! The game will be at Saddleback College Nov. 23rd at 5PM. We were able to handle some adversity in the middle of the season, and like anybody we could have caved in and said forget it. Instead we refocused what was in our minds and what goals we had set back in August that we wanted to accomplish. We decided to strive for that goal of making it to the postseason, and we learned that through hard work and dedication anything can be possible with whatever stands in our way as long as we stay connected and focused as a team. I am happy to end my time at Citrus with this great opportunity and hope to bring home a win!