On Jan. 31, 2025, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) boys basketball team faced off against Grace Brethren School (Grace) in a game dominated by Foothill Tech at the Ventura College Gymnasium for their annual Senior Night to honor the team’s graduating players. The Dragons ended the night with a resounding victory, triumphing over Grace, 65-31.
The night started with a celebration of the five Dragon seniors, Aiden Gomez ’25, Luigirey Guce ’25, Jordan Banola-Castillo ’25, Liam Macario ’25 and Phillip Blessum ’25 with each of the seniors receiving flowers and having a words spoken about them by their coach, Jamal Brown.
The game began with Macario scoring the first point with a free throw to put the Dragons in the lead early on. Although Grace came back and had a successful layup, Guce quickly recovered for the Dragons by making two free throw shots. After the teams exchanged a few shots back and forth, the Dragons were up 11-9 by the end of the quarter which was finished by a layup from Grace to tie the score 11-11.
“The energy was amazing, not only from our team but from the crowd,” Banola-Castillo stated when asked what made a difference for them in their game that day.
Grace came into the second quarter strong, hoping to take the lead, and make a two point shot, which was flown back onto the Dragons side of the court quickly and rebounded with a three pointer by Gomez. Followed shortly after was another three pointer by Nick Turner ’26 resulting in a time-out by Grace. Grace hopped back in the game with a layup, but unfortunately for Grace they received a technical foul which led Ashton Brown ’26 to make a free throw for the Dragons. Enzo Rivera ’27 came up next with two free throw attempts and achieved both of them. Towards the end of the quarter Gomez clutched a three pointer for Foothill Tech, shortly after the first half ended with Foothill Tech in a huge lead of 38-19.
“They play for each other, they play for their school, they play for their community, they play for everyone except themselves and that’s what really sets this team apart,” head coach, Jamal Brown said when talking about how his team came out on the court that day.
The Dragons continued their lead and got the score up to 41-21 before a time out was called by Grace. Foothill Tech continued to apply pressure with a three pointer by Erik Hernandez ’26. Turner followed this with two open layups in a row, but their intensity did not stop there, Brown made two free throws and set up Guce for a two point shot. Grace’s drive was still going as they made a two point shot, but failed to clutch a free throw shot, ending the third quarter with a score 52-25.
The Dragons, with a huge lead, kept pushing and attempting shots against Grace until they finally got a two point shot by Zaiden Archuleta ’26 that was followed by another two point shot from Blessum. Grace received the opportunity to put some numbers on the board with two made free throw shots. Foothill Tech received three different free throw opportunities where they made four points off of free throws. Blessum put a lay up on the board as a final shot for the Dragons with the game ending with a 65-31 sweep by the Dragons.
Foothill Tech hopes to continue this effort into their next game at the Ventura College gym where they will face off Thatcher School (Thatcher) on Feb. 4, 2025 at 6:30.
