Saturday, October 28, 2017 - 2:10pm By The Leader Staff
Lemoore's Chris Herrera (34), William Kloster (33) and Jack Foot (9) helped lead a solid defense Friday night against visiting El Diamante.
Lemoore's Chris Herrera (34), William Kloster (33) and Jack Foot (9) helped lead a solid defense Friday night against visiting El Diamante.
Bill Burris, Lemooresports.com

Lemoore’s varsity football team has one more opportunity to redeem itself when it travels to Hanford for a 7 p.m. game against longtime rival Hanford on Friday. The Tigers’ offense found itself struggling in the final minutes of Friday night’s West Yosemite League showdown with El Diamante.

Despite leading 17-13 about halfway through the final quarter, the Tigers offense decomposed, giving up three El Diamante scores in the last minutes to lose 34-17.

The loss dropped the Tigers out of the title race. Going into Friday night’s game, Lemoore put together an impressive 3-1 league record and trailed the league-leading Miners by just one game. As it is, Lemoore is 3-2, tied for third with Redwood High School, two full games behind El Diamante.

Overall the Tigers are 4-5 on the season.

Lemoore hopes to finish in second as it prepares for the Central Section playoffs. To do that the Tigers will have to get past the 1-4 Bullpups.

While the defense held its own Friday night, Lemoore’s offense turned the ball over several times in the final minutes, giving the Miners several openings – which they took to take the lead. At least two Tiger interceptions ended up as El Diamante touchdowns.