The new-look Los Angeles Aviators could not overcome their SoCal rivals.

Despite a slew of player debuts across the weekend for Los Angeles, the San Diego Growlers played spoiler and took home both matchups of the I-5 series, winning 19-12 on Saturday night before securing a 25-16 victory Sunday.

“[We had] slow starts in both games and only got better throughout the course of the game,” Aviators head coach Jake Baumer said. “So I'm really proud of how we showed growth in both of those areas. Defense coming out and working hard both games, and offense, struggling at the start, but making adjustments and getting better.”

Los Angeles had its growing pains on offense, only holding on 23 of its 47 opportunities across the weekend for a 48.9% mark. The Aviators did show improvement in that category throughout the second matchup, though, holding on 15 of their 26 offensive points Sunday.

“I just expect that we are going to get better at our decision making and our simple mistakes,” Baumer said. “We had multiple very simple either drops or just hucks that we shouldn't have thrown in the first half, that if we score those instead of getting broken like right away on those, it's 12-11 at half instead of 13-8.”

Despite the losses, the Aviators had strong individual performances from rookies and veterans alike, providing hope heading into the rest of the season.

Sean McDougall— tied for 16th in UFA history with his 118 career goals — put up six goals across the weekend to lead the Aviators. McDougall in his ninth year with LA has become an important example for the team along with the other veterans.

“These guys are role models, the older guys, especially McDougall,” says rookie Dox Raskin. “These are guys that I think the younger guys look up to. They're confident. They're leaders. They're natural leaders. It's great having them around, having them step into leadership roles, maybe some for the first time.”

Raskin had a strong pair of games, sitting at second on the team with five assists behind James Franklin’s six.

Max Combs, who just finished his collegiate season with UC Santa Barbara, similarly played in his first two UFA games this weekend, putting on a pair of strong outings with five blocks and two assists. The 21-year-old Owen Shaff also came up big in his UFA debut games, recording three blocks to give the Aviators chances to stay in the game. The two rookies close out the first weekend in first and second on the team in blocks, showing how quick they’ve adapted to the professional game.

“Our young guys did a great job of just listening to the coaches, listening to the captains, hearing the adjustments and making it happen,” Baumer said. “And I think that only sets a tone for the rest of the year.”

The performances from Combs and Shaff stuck out to Mitchell Steiner, the team leader in blocks in two of the last three seasons and 20th on the UFA career blocks list.

“[Combs] had some huge blocks [on Saturday], [Shaff] had some huge blocks,” Steiner said. “The way that they're getting after stuff on defense is really impressive. … They’re all showing good stuff.

As the young players got more comfortable and the Aviators gained more chemistry throughout the weekend, Los Angeles started to make fewer mistakes. But, the margin grew to nine in favor of the Growlers on Sunday with San Diego refusing to make errors.

The Growlers only surrendered one break during Sunday’s matchup and committed a mere 15 turnovers, 11 fewer giveaways compared to Saturday’s game, to go along with a perfect 15 for 15 in red zone opportunities. Travis Dunn was at the forefront of the offensive effort for San Diego, contributing to a whopping 10 scores on Sunday. Dunn is looking to continue his illustrious career with the Growlers as he’s made an All-UFA team every season since 2018.

Los Angeles similarly tightened up in the turnover column for Sunday’s contest, but San Diego’s D-line showed poise and converted nine breaks off 14 tries. Four of those breaks came in the first quarter, with the Aviators coming slow out of the gates.

It’s not all said and done for the I-5 series this season as the Aviators and Growlers will face off twice more this season. The next one is coming up quickly, taking place in San Diego on May 16th, while their final meeting will be July 5th back at home.

“Obviously, from the score of these games, you might think that it's a tough matchup for us, but I think we've proven in the two games that we can generate blocks, which is the hardest thing to do in [the] league,” Steiner said. “And if you can generate blocks, you can win a game. We just have to eliminate our own unforced errors, and I think suddenly these are really tight games.”

Before the Aviators head back to San Diego, they must turn their attention to a new East Coast foe as they host the Atlanta Hustle this Saturday, May 10th at Great Park Championship Stadium. The Hustle are a formidable opponent, winning the South Division regular-season title in each of the last two seasons. Click the link for this week's Aviators vs Hustle tickets.