'We're still out here': After two difficult years and lot of injuries, La Quinta is back in CIF quarterfinals

In the fall of 2019, the freshman football team at La Quinta High School completed a perfect, unbeaten 10-0 season. That team was supposed to be the foundation of a great varsity team for the next three seasons.

Then a series of things happened that led to a disastrous two-year stretch, from 2019-21, which included no wins in the Desert Empire League, a coaching change and questions about whether a once great football program with a pair of CIF championships had fallen from grace.

That all shifted at some point this season, with La Quinta beating longtime rival Palm Desert, then Xavier Prep, Rancho Mirage and Shadow Hills to claim a share of the DEL title. A decisive 61-47 win over Granite Hills (Apple Valley) last week in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs followed.

La Quinta (7-4) reached the postseason for 23 consecutive seasons, from 1995-2018, before missing the playoffs for the first time in 2019. This is the team's first year back.

With the freshmen from that unbeaten 2019 team now seniors, the Blackhawks are now in the Division 9 quarterfinals, aiming to keep what was once an improbable playoff run alive at home Friday against Laguna Beach (8-3).

Following those three seasons without a win in the DEL, the Blackhawks are now the only team from the Coachella Valley still playing in the CIF-SS postseason.

“Now being the last team in the valley playing is pretty cool,” La Quinta senior quarterback Tommy Ansley said. “We’re at practice and we’re like, ‘We’re the only guys out here now.’ Everyone else is at home, turning in their gear, and we’re still out here competing, ready to get after it in the quarterfinals.”

More: Errol Wilson will not return as football coach at Desert Hot Springs High School

More: 'Might as well keep going': La Quinta stands alone following convincing 61-47 win over Granite Hills

Like all sophomores in 2020, this year’s senior class was limited in what they could do together during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, when they were finally able to start playing games in a shortened season during the spring of 2021, the roster became riddled with injuries. Four players suffered ACL tears.

A byproduct of that was an 0-5 disaster. After a few games, the focus turned to preparing for the 2021 season ahead of what would be the shortest offseason in the history of high school football in California. Four months later, the 2021 fall season began.

Though the Blackhawks were more competitive last fall, the team still wasn’t quite itself. Running back Isaiah Alvarado missed most of the season with injuries and star receiver Makaury Warren tore the ALC, MCL and meniscus in his left knee and missed the season. Ansley, the quarterback, didn’t have two key members of his offensive supporting cast.

Those injuries came at a time when the DEL was as competitive as any league since the start of high school football in the valley, decades ago. Five of the six teams in the DEL reached the playoffs — all except La Quinta — with the Blackhawks losing to three of those teams by just five combined points over the final three week of the regular season. That included a three-point loss to Palm Springs and one-point losses to Xavier Prep and Rancho Mirage.

The Blackhawks entered this season with 16 consecutive losses in the DEL.

“But going back to that 10-0 season as freshmen,” Ansley said, “we just always felt like winners. The last few years, it just felt like the football gods were against us.”

Ansley and his fellow seniors were determined over the offseason to not be the class that failed to live up to the standard that had been set at La Quinta. As a group, the offensive line went camping together and others hit the weight room and track seasons particularly hard, knowing this would be their last season to prove something.

“They got it in their minds that they were going to get better and they put in the work," La Quinta head coach Juan Ruiz said. "They showed up every day in the weight room during the offseason. They committed to each other, and we’re reaping the benefits of that now.”

While weight room feats don’t always translate to success on the football field, players say that the respect for one another and comradery that those actions produced is what translated this fall to the football team. There was a level of admiration, Ansley and Warren said, that had been built amongst one another.

That has, in turn, been the biggest difference for this La Quinta team.

“This senior class, we haven’t all played together like we are now since our freshman year,” said Warren, who starts at receiver and defensive back. “Now we’re all back, working together as one. It feels good, just playing with my friends again.”

La Quinta was still dealing with some injuries early in the season as Alvarado and Warren were still not fully healthy. The Blackhawks opened the season with a win over Carter (Rialto), before three consecutive losses to Coachella Valley, Redlands and Murrieta Mesa. Warren didn’t play against Coachella Valley, and he, Ansley and Alvarado didn’t play due to injuries versus Redlands.

They returned versus Murrieta Mesa, then dominated Bloomington, 49-0, before beating Palm Desert to prevent the Aztecs from winning the DEL outright. Over the last seven games, La Quinta has won six. The only loss over that stretch was to Palm Springs, which kept La Quinta from winning the DEL outright.

A 51-21 win over Xavier Prep, a 57-27 win over Rancho Mirage and a 31-16 win over Shadow Hills followed, giving the Blackhawks a little redemption for last season.

“We knew, at least our staff, going into this season that they were going to be tough as nails,” Rancho Mirage head coach L.D. Matthews said of La Quinta. “They’re tough kids with a lot of speed. In the world of sports, when you struggle at times, there’s a lot of motivation to work hard.”

As recently as last April, there was still a lot of uncertainty at La Quinta. Head coach Patrick Rivenes abruptly left the program and Ruiz, the school’s athletics director, stepped into the head coaching role on an interim basis. Ruiz, who had been the team’s defensive coordinator, told his players that there were two things they could control this season — their attitude and their effort.

Multiple seniors say that message has stuck with them, and the chance that they now have to fulfill their once great potential as a team is what continues to drive them forward entering Friday’s game.

“There were so many setbacks over the years,” Ansley said. “The list goes on and on. Injuries, coaching changes, whatever.

“But we weren’t ones to make excuses. We knew what we had, and now we’re showing everyone.”

Andrew John covers sports for The Desert Sun and the USA Today Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com and find him on Twitter at @Andrew_L_John.

La Quinta (7-4) vs. Laguna Beach (8-3)

What: CIF-SS Division 9 quarterfinal game at La Quinta High School

Know the foe: The Laguna Beach Breakers are the champions of the Pac-4 League going 3-0.

Common opponents: None

Playoff path: La Quinta defeated Granite Hills 61-47 in the first round, Laguna Beach defeated West Torrance 24-21

Inside the matchup: While the Blackhawks love to run the ball with a variety of ball-carrying weapons, the Breakers make their hay through the air. Laguna Beach, which started the year 2-3 but has won six games in a row, averages around 223 yards passing per game and just 82 yards on the ground. Sophomore quarterback Jackson Kollock has taken over the QB role during the season and is playing well. He has started the last five games for the Breakers, leading them to a 5-0 record and throwing for 15 touchdowns with just two interceptions during that stretch. This has the making of a high scoring game as the Blackhawks average 35 points per game and the Breakers 29.

What will determine the outcome: When two good offensive teams get together, the outcome usually goes in favor of whichever defense can get the most stops, either on downs or by turnover. La Quinta has relied on outscoring its opponents during their late-season surge. Their three-headed running monster of Aiden Nsubuga, Isaiah Alvarado and quarterback Tommy Ansley has been almost impossible to stop in the second half of the season. If that talented La Quinta line can continue to create holes, points should be available for the Blackhawks. Getting pressure on Laguna Beach’s Kollock will also be important. The Blackhawks were able to slow down a pass-first Xavier Prep team earlier in the season by getting pressure on the QB. That will be vital on Friday night.

Coach Juan Ruiz says: “We've gotten better every week. If you had seen us Week 1 or Week 2, you probably would've said these guys aren't going to get very far. But the guys listened and they believed in the plan we had and busted their tails day in and day out and here we are.

"We're going to play a solid team in Laguna Beach and if we play mistake-free football, we've got a shot. At this point in time, it's going to be the teams that make the least amount of mistakes who are the ones that move on."

Desert Sun’s Andrew John says: One DEL coach told me this week that the team playing at home in the playoffs has about a 7-point advantage, if the teams are about equal. For that reason, and because I watched La Quinta steamroll Granite Hills a week ago, I have to lean toward the Blackhawks. Final score: La Quinta 35, Laguna Beach 28.

Desert Sun’s Shad Powers says: When two high-powered offenses get together, I usually favor the one that does it on the ground more than through the air. It’s a little more reliable, in general. With that in mind, I like La Quinta to continue its run, in a game that may follow a similar pattern to last week’s shootout. Final score: La Quinta 48, Laguna Beach 36

CalPreps predicted score: La Quinta 35, Laguna Beach 34

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta football returns to CIF quarterfinals after two difficult years