This year I had an amazing experience in football. We had a really inspiring year also. After the season ended, our overall record was 12-1, our team is now the second best in school history, we won our conference, our regular season record was 10-0, and we were regional runners-up. If we had won the regional game we would have played in the Ohio Division 6 State Final Four.

Part of what made this season so amazing was our seniors. We had thirteen very talented seniors. They all lead the team with a passion and love for the game. They taught all the underclassmen many valuable lessons, and not just in football, but life too. These lessons range from always working hard to surrounding yourself will people who have the same goal. Football is more than learning blocking schemes on a play, or learning a certain pass route; it is about finding out who the real you is, and learning valuable lessons for later in life. They are one of the best senior classes to ever go through our school, and that means there will be big shoes to fill. I have no doubts that our underclassmen have the guts to do so.

I also enjoyed the brotherhood football gave me. It was a family away from family. Our head coach, Coach Dales, always told us that the locker-room was a like a temple, or another home. We would go to the locker-room and just have fun. Our locker room was like a detox center. We would go in there and hang out with our friends, and we would forget what was happening at home or at school for a couple of hours. We would listen to music, tell jokes, talk about the game from the week before, and sometimes, if we were lucky, we would eat snacks that we all brought in. The locker room was always a fun place to be.

I am bummed out that the season is over, but they always say, “Don’t be sad that it is over, but be happy that it happened.” Football has formed life long friends, given me valuable lessons, and let me be myself around others who always accepted me. I am only a freshman, so I still have a lot more to learn. I’ll see you next fall, Football.