Seven Lakes dropped its season-opener on Aug. 31, falling 17-13 to Memorial at Rhodes Stadium. The Spartans had first-and-goal from Memorial’s 10-yard line with a little more than four minutes left in the game, but the Mustangs recovered a fumble on a carry the next play on its 4-yard line, eventually salting the game away with timely first downs from there.

Still, the Spartans had more go right than wrong. Poor special teams play—specifically, bad coverage on a punt return and a bad snap that led to a poor punt—awarded Memorial good field position (on the Spartans’ 42 and 31-yard lines, respectively) on two drives that produced 10 points in the second half, good enough for the Mustangs to turn a 13-7 halftime deficit into the final score.

“It’s hard to say if we would’ve won, but 1st-and-goal on the 10, if we punch that in, we go up 20-17. It’s a different feeling right now,” Spartans coach Jimmy Hamon said. “We ran our offense clean. We started lackluster on defense, but we competed. There weren’t a lot of mental mistakes, but there were a few physical mistakes in a game that tight.

“Bad snap, missed extra point, a fumble, a dropped pass on a screen play. Those weren’t bad play calls or executed poorly, we just dropped a ball or fumbled a ball. You just can’t do that against a good team in a tight game.”

Otherwise, however, Seven Lakes played well. It outgained Memorial 303-242 in total yards. The Spartans had just the one turnover. And aside from an opening nine-play, 81-yard scoring drive by Memorial to start, Seven Lakes’ defense played admirably, allowing just 161 yards over the final 3 ½ quarters.

“We keyed in on communication,” senior linebacker Nate Hawkins said. “That first drive wasn’t crisp, and it showed. We started making our checks, started communicating more clearly. We started playing better right away. But we’ve got to play like that from the get-go.”

The big takeaway from the first game of the season is the Spartans know they have a quarterback. Junior Cristian Beltran and sophomore Scott Stanford battled for the starting position all spring and up until last week.

Beltran earned the start against Memorial and did not disappoint, completing 21 of 33 passes for 206 yards in his varsity debut.

“It gives me a lot of confidence, but I came here with a lot of confidence,” Beltran said. “I was confident we’d come out with a win. That didn’t happen, but we saw a lot of effective things. We’ll move forward from it.”

Beltran was only sacked once, getting rid of the ball quickly and decisively. He spread the ball around to six receivers, though his primary targets were seniors Eric Johnson (8 catches, 86 yards) and Jaden Embra (8 catches, 80 yards).

Beltran said he initially had to acquaint himself with the speed of the game. There were no nerves, though, and he acclimated himself to varsity football rather quickly.

“He did amazing,” Embra said. “It’s his first year on varsity and he handled the pressure well. He got the ball to our playmakers. Cristian, that’s our guy.”

Johnson added Beltran “played a heck of a game.” Hamon was just as impressed.

“He did a good job. I was really pleased,” Hamon said. “I don’t think you can rattle him. You didn’t see it in the offseason, you didn’t see it in practice, and you didn’t see it (against Memorial). He’s calm, cool and collected. From JV ‘B’ to varsity football is a big difference and he’s just so mentally tough.”

Hamon strategically used Stanford, more a runner than a passer, for different looks at signal-caller, often on designed run plays. It paid off. Stanford scored on carries of one and two yards, respectively, in the first half. In all, Stanford had six carries for 15 yards and misfired on his only pass attempt.

Beltran played the majority of the second half and showed moxie on what could have been the go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter, when he drove the Spartans 52 yards to put them in position to score before the turnover. He completed tough third downs and made sure to exploit matchups.

Embra and Johnson were a tough cover for Memorial’s secondary. Both ran hard on routes, and Johnson used his size to make acrobatic catches.

“It makes my job a whole lot easier when you have playmakers like that who are going to fight for you,” Beltran said. “It’s a blessing to have those guys in my corner.”

There was a sense after the game that Seven Lakes simply let one get away. A better snap here, a surer catch there. But the Spartans did find some answers at quarterback and the defense held Memorial to 4.6 yards per rush and eight yards per pass attempt.

Not all was lost.

“We didn’t quit,” Beltran said. “We put a nice last drive together and just couldn’t finish. We’ll get better.”