Shafter celebrates historic football season with downtown rally

Shafter celebrated its most historic football season in history with a downtown rally on Friday night, honoring the Shafter High Generals, who finished the season as the State Championship runner-up in Division 5.

The Generals, led by Head Coach Jerald Pierucci, were honored by representatives of the city, as well as the offices of state Sen. Melissa Hurtado and Dr. Jasmeen Bains, who presented each team member with certificates.

The Shafter High cheerleaders performed for the crowd before the Generals took the stage. Mayor Chad Givens welcomed the crowd and congratulated the team and coaches on such an amazing season. "We saw this team progress over the season and saw what it did at the end of the season and thank them for such an amazing season," he said.

Coach Pierucci said that this year's team didn't give up in any game, and never thought that a game was out of reach. "These guys played together all year, really coming together at the end of the season and putting together this run. We are proud to represent Shafter High and the city of Shafter."

This year's team put together a run rivaled by no other in school history. They beat the ninth seeded team in the playoffs, followed by upsets of the number #1, #4 and #3 seeds to claim Shafter's first Valley Championship since 1955. They then traveled to Walnut High School and beat the Southern Section team in the Regional Championship, earning the school's first trip to the State Championship game.

The Generals fought hard in tough conditions, coming up just short in the State Campionship game. This team is also a very young team, and will bring back the majority of starters next season.