“Two years ago, we lost 26 seniors to graduation and replaced them with sophomores the following year,” Mr. John Toomey, first assistant varsity coach, said. “This meant we were playing a very challenging schedule with a large number of inexperienced young players.”

Two years ago, the varsity football team had a 5-5 season. Many find themselves comparing the current team to that of two years ago, but what most don’t realize is there are many factors that determine how the season will go.

“Championships are won in the offseason by the commitment players show to getting bigger, stronger and faster,” Mr. Toomey said. “We will not compete for championships again until our players go ‘all in’ in the weight room. Our attendance so far has been encouraging and the coaches are very excited about the attitude demonstrated by our players.”

While some ridiculed the football team this past season for scoring limited wins, team members say that both failure and success motivated them to evolve into the team they always wanted to be.

“Now that we know how glorious victory can be, the team wants more. We played our hearts out each and every game, but most of the time, we just couldn’t get that win,” junior Dylan Stillwagner, nose guard, said. “We had to fight through so much failure these past two seasons, and we refuse to know the feeling of failure again in this coming season.”

The team plans to improve for next season by weightlifting and doing speed and agility programs in the offseason.

“Our team always had the drive for success, but we really learned how to reach success at the end of the season,” junior Eric Wapinsky, quarterback, said. “We’re excited to show people that Pottsville is back where it belongs.”