BANNING — Second-year Banning High football coach Jake Knesel gathered his team after its 23-0 victory Thursday night against Desert Hot Springs and asked them to keep their Friday nights open for the foreseeable future. That’s because the Broncos, unless their season badly goes off the rails, are likely headed for the playoffs. Banning (7-1 overall, 1-0 in the Sun Valley League) has only Cathedral City and Desert Mirage left on its league schedule, and both were 2-5 overall heading into this week’s games. There has been a metamorphosis at Banning. The Broncos went 1-9 last season (0-7 in league), and the program had won just seven games over the previous four seasons. “We were 1-9 last year, so playoffs weren’t even an option,” Knesel said. “This was a big game. (Desert Hot Springs) is a great team. We’re not done yet, but this was marked on our calendar all year as our big game in league. Next week (Cathedral City) is a big one too, but we’ve got one of them down.” Knesel said having a full year to prepare was important after not getting the coaching job until June prior to the 2023 season. “We had a lot of kids (in 2023) with the old mentality – the mentality of ‘If things go wrong, we’re gonna lose,’” Knesel said. “We had a really productive off-season. We’re still really young, but the hard work we’ve put in during the off-season has been key. And the buy-in – they all trust the coaching staff.” Banning scored the only points it needed on its first drive which ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Anzaldua to Junior Dunahoo for 7-0. Banning made it 10-0 on its second possession on a 36-yard field goal by Diego Ceballos. Ceballos added another field goal with 22.9 seconds left in the first half, booming one through from 23 yards to make it 13-0. Ceballos added his third field goal on Banning’s first drive of the fourth quarter, splitting the uprights from 33 yards for 16-0. There was no stopping Banning after that, but just to make sure Anzaldua threw his second touchdown pass of the game with 7:08 left in the contest, again to Junior Dunahoo from 55 yards. “The coaching staff has held everyone accountable,” Anzaldua said. “And we’ve hit the weight room a lot. We just needed to play our game tonight. We’ve been working since the summer, so we just do what we do.” Anzaldua threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns. Dunahoo caught five passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Dequinn Lovins rushed for 76 yards on 16 carries. Deven Ray and Geo Johnson led the Banning defense. Marquis Stewart-Vaughan had two interceptions. With Desert Hot Springs out of the way, Banning now sets its sights on a league title. The Broncos have not won a league crown since 2012, when they went 11-2 overall, 5-0 in the Mountain Valley League and made it to the third round of the playoffs. Related Articles High School Sports | Efrain Hernandez boots Moreno Valley football team to victory over Perris High School Sports | Rancho Christian football team holds off Arlington High School Sports | Orange Vista football team regroups, pulls away from Vista del Lago High School Sports | King girls golf team beats Roosevelt, claims share of Big VIII League title High School Sports | San Gorgonio football program’s Aden ‘A-Dog’ Pawlowicz exemplifies character, perseverance and reliability