The season just keeps getting longer and harder for the winless Varsity Football team.

The Cats have not even taken off out of the gates to start the season, struggling mightily on offense and being outplayed defensively.

The Cats lost a 14-13 nail-biter to the Los Angeles Romans on Sept. 26 and were completely manhandled last Friday by the Fremont Pathfinders, 43-0.

Although the loss to Fremont was never close, the match with the Romans exemplified the Cats’ struggles as the seemingly overmatched Romans exposed the Cats’ problems.

Freshman Chetahi Jackson took the opening kickoff and exploded for an 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, but any momentum gained from the big play was taken away because of an illegal block on the back penalty on the play.

To make matters worse, the Cats would fumble the ball on the ensuing play which was returned for a nine yard touchdown by the Romans.

Explosive plays by junior tailback Tyrone German were nullified by negative plays and penalties. The defense kept the game close because the Roman offense was terrible.

Los Angeles did not score any points on offense, its only other score coming on a 15 yard interception return for a touchdown with 2:06 left in the second quarter.

In the second half, turnovers and penalties by the Romans gave life to the Cats offense. A fumble at the 48-yard line with 5:21 left in the third quarter by the Romans, gave the Cats tremendous field position. German would take advantage carrying the team into the endzone, scoring on a 15-yard screen pass to cut the Cats deficit to seven with 2:36 left in the third.

In the fourth quarter, German continued to pick up huge chunks of yards on the ground. A 2-yard touchdown by German with 8:14 left in the game would make it 14-13.

Head Coach E.C. Robinson would decide to take advantage of the current momentum with a two-point conversion to give the Cats the lead.

The play would be a repeat of the previous play, a handoff to German who was swallowed at the line of scrimmage by the swarming Romans defense.

The negative result, however, did not put the game out of reach.

The Cats got the ball back at their own one yard line with 6:02 left, but the inability to sustain a passing game sealed the Cats loss.

The Cats’ offense has little time to figure out how to keep the chains moving and put points on the board, while the defense needs to become a more consistent, aggressive, and intelligent unit to limit opponents from executing big plays.

“We just have to keep our heads up,” said senior lineman Eduardo Flores. “We have league play coming up, so we still have a chance to make the playoffs.”

The Cats end Non-League play on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m.