Vasquez opened the season with a 53-0 loss to Trinity Classical Academy of Vasquez High School.

“I have a question: What is the most important game? The next one, right?” Perez said. “You can’t think about the things you’ve already messed up. It’s just that we have to overcome it.”

“There were a lot of positives to this game. The score may not show it, but they fought until the end. They fought hard, which they probably haven’t done in many years. We were able to move the ball. We were able to tackle. We were able to do a lot of little things.”

For the Mustangs, it was the 20th consecutive loss since 2021.

Vasquez was almost able to keep up with Trinity on offense: The Mustangs totaled 145 yards while the Knights totaled 161 yards on offense.

The difference was that Vasquez had five turnovers and Trinity Classical scored four touchdowns on defense and one touchdown on special teams.

The Knights scored two consecutive interception returns for touchdowns and two fumble returns for touchdowns in the second quarter.

Trinity Classical scored a special teams touchdown before the Knights offense even touched the ball.

A punt by Vasquez at the end of the game’s opening drive was blocked at the line of scrimmage and Trinity’s Luke Backes returned the ball seven yards for a touchdown with nine minutes and 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

Trinity Classical scored on its first possession of the game after stopping Vasquez on its second drive.

Trinity freshman Aiden Visconti capped off an 11-play, 50-yard run with a 3-yard run to give the Knights a 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Trinity senior John Carlson scored a 62-yard touchdown off an interception early in the second quarter, and on Vasquez’s next possession, Visconti scored a 60-yard touchdown off an interception to give Trinity a 26-0 lead.

The Knights led 40-0 at halftime after a 30-yard fumble return late in the second quarter.

“When you finally get to play a game, you question who you are and what you’re going to be like,” Trinity Classical Academy coach Mike Parrinello said. “We’re a really young team, so it was good to compete. Vasquez, they’re a lot better than that score. We had some really big chances to make this a little more unbalanced than I think the talent level was.”

“It was a lot of fun coming out here. I was happy to see our guys come out here and play hard. They played solid for 60 minutes. We were able to use a lot of our substitutes, which was good too.”

Vasquez was able to move the ball more effectively in the second half as the clock ran down.

The Mustangs brought the ball to Trinity’s 11-yard line, but lost it on fourth down and goal.

“I don’t think we lost today. We learned,” Perez said. “We learned again what not to do and we learned a lot of things we need to do.”

Trinity scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including a 25-yard fumble return that resulted in a point, but Perez ruled the pass incomplete.

The Knights completed a 20-yard touchdown pass in the final minutes to cap their scoring.

Vasquez totaled 109 yards on 38 rushing attempts by eight different players.

Vasquez senior Jake Caplinger led the Mustangs with 56 yards on nine carries and senior Nathan Sanchez had 31 yards on 10 carries.

Trinity Classical rushed for 97 yards on 15 total carries. Carlson rushed for 37 yards on five total carries.

Vasquez senior Colton Prosser recovered a fumble on defense and intercepted a pass on a 2-point conversion attempt. Senior Ryan Hurtado broke up a pass in the fourth quarter.

“Nothing can become routine, you always have to look for improvements,” Perez said. “Find different ways, different strategies, different methods to do many things.”

“I’ve been fortunate enough to coach for over 28 years and I’ve seen worse. There’s only one way to go from here and that’s up. You have to improve the little things and get better that way. I always reminded the kids, ‘What’s the most important game? The next one.’ In this situation, what’s the most important game? The next one.”

Vasquez plays in Beverly Hills next Friday.

The Mustangs’ last win was a 30-26 victory over Silver Valley on October 22, 2021, in Vasquez’s final game of the season in the Cross Valley League.

The Mustangs have since changed leagues twice, going 0-19 in two seasons in the Cottonwood League and are in their first season in the Manzanita League this year.

Vasquez last played at Trinity Classical in 2021, losing 48-18 in a Cross Valley League game.

Trinity Classical also won the matchup 26-18 in 2019 when Vasquez played in the Prep League. Vasquez did not play in 2020.