BY YANEEK SMITH, BEACON CONTRIBUTOR

DANBURY TWP. — Tiffin Calvert jumped on Danbury early, taking a 21-point lead after one quarter and scored a whopping 35 points in the second quarter on its way to a 69-0 victory over the Lakers. The Senecas (3-4, 2-2 SBC River) scored five touchdowns in the second quarter.

Danbury (0-7, 0-4) quarterback Kaden Conrad completed 3-of-4 passes for 47 yards and Tommy Owens caught one pass for 30 yards. Guy Maltese had eight carries and rushed for 22 yards.

“Calvert is a very good football team. The thing about it is, the SBC is tough,” said Danbury coach Keith Mora. “You look at Calvert, but any of these teams — Hopewell-Loudon, Margaretta, and Lakota — and it’s tough. These teams just beat each other up. Margaretta gets a big win and then loses to Lakota. They’re a very good football team.

“We had a couple of kids that were coming back from injury that were banged up early in the night and that knocked the wind out of our sails. Kaden went down, and we had to go to our backups. It makes it tough when we’re already a little depleted.”

Despite the loss, Mora has been able to find positives among his team’s struggles.

“After the game, we had a little team discussion in the locker room, and I was pleased with it. We told them, ‘You’re not the only team going through this right now.’ My guess is, some of those teams, it’s probably pretty miserable being part of those teams. I’m very thankful that they come into Monday’s practice thinking they have a chance, and our kids have not quit on each other,” said Mora.

“I’m not saying we’ve done that in the past, but when you’re 0-7, things like that can happen. I’m sure a lot of times those teams fall apart,” said Mora. “The one thing I continue to see with the guys is, when we pulled the starters, they’re becoming the backups’ biggest supporters. When you see guys struggling, sometimes players just pack it in. That’s not happening on our sideline. I’m super thankful for that. It would be tough trying to plan for the game, (but) we’re seeing a bunch of kids that care and are still trying, and that’s all we can ask for.

“It’s been a rough year, a rough go of it. I’m just thankful our kids haven’t given up. That’s all you can ask for.”

On Friday, the Lakers travel to Bascom to take on Hopewell-Loudon, which is coming off a 43-6 win over St. Joseph Central Catholic.

“They look similar to Calvert in many ways. They’ve got nice speed on the outside, (and) their record isn’t indicative of just how good they are,” said Mora. They’ve got a nice quarterback, a good-sized line, that’s something that we’re going to have to come in prepared for. Coach (Brian) Colatruglio is a good coach, and he’ll have them ready to play.”