Chiefs in the Big Easy: Santaluces football embraces road trip to New Orleans despite loss

The Santaluces football team did everything last weekend but parade down Bourbon Street and paint the town Chiefs’ red.

Last Thursday, the Chiefs boarded a Southwest flight bound for New Orleans with its esteemed second-year coach Victor Clavijo for a football game and a lifetime experience.

Santaluces (3-1) was beaten for the time this season by top-ranked John Curtis Christian, 55-21, but this Louisiana trip from Lantana was more than a final score.

Santaluces stayed in downtown New Orleans hotel. The Big Easy tour included visits to three college campuses – Louisiana State and Southern University in Baton Rouge and Tulane in New Orleans.

“It was amazing to see their reaction, getting on an airplane, watching them hang out with their buddies in the room, having breakfast in the hotel, lunches,’’ Clavijo said. “I’m positive it’s something they’ll talk about the rest of their lives. In college, they’ll talk about it with their teammates that they were able to do that.’’

Clavijo had scheduled his former school, Miami’s Champagnat Catholic, where he won three state titles, for a game in New Orleans against the same team. It got cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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This time, takeoff went on as scheduled.

“It was a good experience to travel and play a high school football game at this level,’’ defensive back Amir Gibson said. “It’s not the norm. We got to do something cool with our team.’’

None of the players had ever been to the football-mad state. “Even though we lost, it was a great experience,’’ said wide receiver Israel Marion, who had four receptions. “I’d never been to New Orleans. I liked it. We went to very nice colleges. I liked all of them. The LSU campus, it was large, somewhere I feel I can fit in.''

On Monday, the Chiefs, back on their Lantana campus, gathered for a film session to watch the game played at a 10,000-seat stadium in Metairie, La. Attendance was announced at 2,500.

"Extreme amount of people,'' Gibson said. "It was a small town, big stadium. So everyone in town came to the game.''

“We can learn a lot from it,’’ Gibson added. "It wasn’t a game we need to get to where we want to go. So we took it as something to learn from. We need to be more disciplined. We were the better team skill-wise. They were the better overall team together.’’

Gibson and Marion have visions of playing college football. Getting a tour of the football operations at the three universities was eye opening.

“Some people haven’t been on a college campus, so it was a first-time experience,’ Gibson said. “My highlight was going to Tulane. It was the best campus I’d seen. The stadium was nice, the facility was nice. Everything nice about Tulane.’’

Offensive tackle Nick Acosta, who is 6-2, 320 pounds and looking to play in college, talked to the Southern University coaching staff. “I definitely made a connection there,’’ Acosta said.

Clavijo was so enthused on the trip’s success, he’s been on the phone arranging for another road trip next season. Texas and Tennessee are candidates, giving another chance for his players to see new colleges and cities. This Louisiana journey was funded by fundraising and donations.

“They were different spectrums of college football,’’ Clavijo said. ‘It was good for them to see what the campuses looked like, what facilities looked like and what college students do on a daily basis.’’

The players also absorbed the history of New Orleans, driving around in the bus. But a planned tour of Bourbon Street was scrapped because of transportation issues.

“Bourbon Street could’ve been a headache for us anyway,’’ Clavijo said.

“It felt like an authentic, an old type of city,’’ Gibson said.

They also saw both sides of New Orleans. “The city’s not very nice but the team was good,’’ Acosta said. "New Orleans, there’s a lot of poverty. But the closer we got to the stadium, there were a lot of nice houses.’’

Acosta had one of his best contests, grading a 97 percent by the coaching staff — pinned for just one blocking error. “It was a good game for me and helped me get out on the radar,’’ Acosta said.

The score felt closer than the final count as Santaluces fell behind 21-0 early but rallied to 28-14 and 35-21 in the third quarter.

Down two touchdowns, the Chiefs collected an onside kick but saw it reversed when officials claimed it was touched a yard early. Santaluces also had a touchdown nullified by an illegal man downfield and fumbled at the John Curtis Christian 10-yard line.

“I’ve played better players than them this year but they were good kids and didn’t make a lot of mistakes,’’ Acosta said.

The New Orleans school’s discipline is the Santaluces’ takeaway after absorbing its season’s first defeat, says Clavijo.

"They’re going to learn a ton — the importance of doing what you’re supposed to do and when you’re supposed to do it,’’ Clavijo said. “We have all the talent in the world. It’s putting it all together. This being my second year here, putting in that culture. We’re on our way.’’

John Curtis Christian ran a finely tuned triple-option, part of the program’s tradition. “They were very disciplined systematically,’ Clavijo said. “Fifty-plus years running the triple option. matchups. It was a bad matchup. They do well at where we lack. Three yards and a cloud of dust. We were figuring them out and here comes something different.’’

But Clavijo liked the no-quit spirit.

“Even though we got down fast we fought and made it a game again,’’ Clavijo said. Our team showed fight.’’

Friday’s “Homecoming Game’’ is Friday vs. Royal Palm.

“They’ll want revenge on what happened last week,'' Clavijo said. "I feel bad that they have to deal with us this week.’’

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Santaluces football embraces road trip to New Orleans despite loss