Diamond Ranch is taking on a different attitude

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Diamond Ranch started the season off on the right foot. The Panthers lost to Edison, 27-13, but by most accounts, Diamond Ranch played tough and did itself proud.

Panthers Coach Roddy Layton is not satisfied with that anymore

‘I don’t like that attitude. Why should we be content that we only did well?’ Layton said. ‘I don’t want to pat a player on the back and say, ‘You played well.’ I felt we could have won that game.

‘When Edison lost to Servite, was Edison happy to have played well? Why should we be?’

Layton is trying to change the program’s mentality. Not that it’s a losing mentality, but it’s not a winning one.

Diamond Ranch is in its 11th year as a school, Layton said, and in it’s seventh or eight year -- does anybody really know -- of varsity football. He said the program should no longer be content with moral victories.

‘Bottomline, you have to win the game,’ he said. ‘I don’t want my players to be content to say, ‘We played well.’ We’ll play anywhere and anytime, but not to lose.’

On Thursday, Diamond Ranch plays Oaks Christian (2-2). OC is not the program that it was last year, when it had 11 Division-I players, but that doesn’t matter. Layton compared the Lions to Notre Dame University and said, ‘USC doesn’t care if Norte Dame is good or not, they get up for that game.’ And that’s what he’s been telling his players all week.

The Panthers are banged up. They might be without eight key players, six of them starters, and Layton is battling cold.

‘But a great team doesn’t make excuses,’ he said. ‘Are we a great team or a good team? If we are [a great team], we’ll find a way to win this Thursday.’

- Jaime Cardenas