Lakota West and St. Xavier played each other in the regional final football game last year on October 30th. The game ended sourly for the Firebirds, who lost in a close battle with the Bombers 10-7. This season, West opened their season with a game at St. X, and, according to Quarterback Mitch Bolden, this game was going to be different.

“It was kind of a bittersweet feeling because you know, we lost in the regional finals last year and we spent the whole offseason wanting a chance to play them again so it was very important to me,” Mitch said. Coming off of a loss last year, there is no doubt that the football team wanted to bounce back with an early-season win against the first ranked football team in the state.

Our Firebirds played at St. X on August 20th, with a packed student section crowding the stands. The Red Sea dashed RTI stadium with a whiteout, excited to watch the rematch that would kick off at 7 pm. The Bombers lit up the scoreboard first, kicking a 27 yarder through the neon goalposts. West did not stay quiet for long, however. After a high snap, the Firebirds found themselves deep in Bomber territory, where Bolden found receiver Brennan Remy for a four-yard pass to give West 6 on the board. Toward the end of the second half, Bolden shot one deep, a thirty-yard pass into the end zone to receiver and Kentucky commit Alex Afari to make the score 13 and eventually 14-3 to end the first half. After halftime, momentum was lost for Lakota West after an early quarter turnover and never resurfaced. The Bombers went on to score 28 unanswered points against the Firebirds, making the end score of the game 31-14.

“The turnover to start the second half kind of swung the momentum and we could just never get that back. So I think if we came out in that second half and sustained a type of drive I think we would have been alright but the turnover killed us and it was kinda the difference in the game,” Coach Tom Bolden said in response to how the game could have gone differently. “I think the kids played hard we just made two big mistakes and… when two great teams play like that it’s who makes the least mistakes and who can make one more play.” Although the Firebirds were not able to pull through with the win, they are looking forward to hopefully playing the Bombers in a rematch at the end of the season. 

Lakota West bounced back from their loss rather quickly, however, smothering the West Clermont Wolves 45-7 for the homecoming game. The Firebirds travel to Oak Hills this Friday and kick off at 7 pm, hoping to continue a winning streak.