By: Aiden Alcorta

The Pleasanton Eagles football team is now included in the hunt for the 2025 Class 4A Playoffs after defeating the Fredericksburg Billies. The Eagles took on Fredericksburg on October 17th at Eagle Stadium in front of their home crowd. Going into the battle, the Eagles knew it was going to be a tough battle playing a team they hadn’t beaten in years. The Eagles had an excellent week of practice and an astonishing walk-through, getting prepared for the Billies. To start off the game, Pleasanton’s defense forced a 3 and out causing the Billies to punt. On the Eagles’ 1st play on the opening drive, Michael Martinez ran through the Billies’ defense to get a 60-yard rushing touchdown to start the game. On the Billies’ next drive, the Eagles’ defense came up with a fumble recovery, forcing the ball back to the offense. On the 2nd play of the drive, Michael Martinez scored another 45-yard touchdown rush, making the score 14-0. The Billies’ offense finally started to get going and scored twice on the Eagles’ defense, making it 14-14 at halftime. The Eagles made some adjustments during halftime and came out in the second half strong. The Eagles forced the Billies to punt, and on a bobbled punt return, the Eagles were down at their own 4-yard line. On the first play of the drive, QB Emerick Alvarado kept the ball on a QB run and scored an astonishing 96-yard touchdown, putting the Eagles in front. A few Drives later, Emerick Alvarado did it again, scoring another 40-yard touchdown off a quarterback keep, putting the Eagles in front 28-14. The Billies got their passing game going in the second half and scored a touchdown of their own, making the score 21-28. Coming down to the last drive of the game, the Billies drove all the way down from their own 25 to the opposite 30.

Thankfully, the Eagles’ defense stopped the Billies, winning 28-21, beating the Billies for the first time in a couple of years. Unfortunately, the Eagles lost a few people during the game due to injuries and will be out for a while. In response to inquiries regarding his perspective on losing key players for the upcoming critical games, Coach Palmer expressed his views, stating, “It is always a next man up mentality. Backups are always one play away from being on the field, and they get lots of reps in individual and group drills to be prepared. We have moved a few guys around to add depth, and they have learned quickly and look like they will help us.”  The Pleasanton Eagles are now in the Hunt for the Playoffs since 2022 and are hoping to defeat the Uvalde Coyotes on Halloween at Eagle Stadium to officially punch their ticket to the Playoffs. When asked how the mindset is going into these next three big games to potentially be in the hunt for the playoffs, Coach Palmer expressed, “Good mindset. We are seeing some of the hard work pay off. It is great to see some of the progress we have made as a team. We have come a long way from the start of the season.”