Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” The quote sums up the mentality of the renewed Jesuit Rangers football team, looking to improve on last year’s playoff run. 
And so far, the Rangers have done just that.
Jesuit has started the season in perfect fashion, roaring to a 2-0 record. Last Friday, September 2, the Rangers steamrolled over brotherly rival Strake Jesuit in impressive fashion. Both teams came into the matchup with a Week 0 win under their belts. Attempting to build off a monumental win versus Flower Mound, the Rangers came into the game confident and prepared.
Last year, the Strake Crusaders and Rangers met in Houston on a hot Friday night in which Dallas Jesuit triumphed victorious. With the site shifting back home for the Rangers this year, they were ready to post another W.
Strake arrived to the Jesuit campus around 4 P.M. on Friday, where the visiting players relaxed until game time. Unfortunately, it did not seem like many supporters from Houston came along, as Dallas students did last year.
Before the 7 P.M. kickoff, the Rangers raided the field, storming through their inflatable helmet. The Rangers grabbed an early 7-0 lead, beginning the rout many Blue and Gold fans were expecting. WR Jake Oliver (’13) scored the first points of the night on a 27-yard pass from QB Jack Brezette (’13). 
For the rest of the 1st quarter, the defenses went back and forth, stopping either offense from getting into the endzone.
Early in the 2nd Quarter, Jake Oliver again broke loose, this time on a 69-yard touchdown pass from Brezette. After Strake RB Jordan Underwood ran in a touchdown from 5 yards out, the Rangers offense dominated the rest of the 2nd quarter. WR Austin Lock (’12), caught touchdowns of 79 yards and 16 yards while Safety/Kicker Tucker Rice (’12), also chipped in a field goal from 32 yards out. At halftime, Jesuit Dallas led 23-7.
Looking to finish off Strake, the Rangers came back from their locker-room in the new training facility hungry and ready to get their second win of the season.
In the 3rd quarter, the Rangers knocked in two more scores, while keeping the Crusaders scoreless. Oliver caught his third touchdown of the game, his fifth of the season. At the helm of QB Brian Buell (’12), who went 6-6 for 53 yards, in his only series, he found Junior RB Garrett Van de Ven for a 19-yard touchdown.
Going into the 4th, the Rangers looked healthy and confident, a good sign for a young team with only 11 senior starters. Toward the middle of the quarter, Van de Ven sealed the deal with a 20-yard strike to put the Rangers on top by 44 points.
The game ended in a 51-14 Ranger win after Strake’s RB Kyle Santry punched in a score from the goal line.
Jack Brezette finished 18-23 with 375 yards. Oliver finished with 10 catches for 199 yards, bringing him to nearly 30 receptions through 2 games. ATH O’Rion Salter (’14) was the Rangers’ rushing leader, gaining 44 yards on 7 carries.
The two teams, after exchanging high-fives and final remarks about the game, prayed together on the field. In a display of pure sportsmanship, Jesuit invited their Houston brothers to a dinner of chicken parmesan after the game.
This game matched the only two private schools in the UIL, a proud accomplishment for both 
programs. According to tackle Freddy Rondon, (’12) playing the only other private school was “a challenge because we have been training a lot all summer, working on our techniques, fixing every single detail after watching film, so we when we came through that big inflated helmet we knew that we were going to hit them hard even though we are in similar situations.”
When asked about his expectations for this season, Rondon humbly remarked, “I don’t like to say how many games we are going to win or lose; if we keep working in the way that we are doing it right now, good things will happen in the future.”
Rondon, a senior who moved to Dallas from Venezuela last year, has come to love and to appreciate American football. He also says that “to beat Coppell, it’s the same way that we have done it with Flower Mound and Strake Jesuit: hard work, never taking a play off, and always throwing the first punch, because we are Jesuit and Jesuit Stadium is our house.”
The Rangers have moved up 395 spots in National Rankings to #439 and are currently ranked #63 in Texas. With a win against Coppell, that ranking could move anywhere from 35-45 slots. At the rate they’re going, the Rangers will be a deep playoff threat this winter.
After a 52-7 loss to Coppell last year, Jesuit looks to score early and often in order to beat the Cowboys and stay undefeated. Come out September 9th to support the Rangers as they wear camouflage pants in honor of the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
