The high school football season is at its midway point, and after five games, Shenendehowa’s Varsity Football team has experienced a mixed bag of wins and losses.
The season opened with a 28-7 loss against Shaker, but the team rebounded with victories against Guilderland (40-0) and Colonie (55-0).
Facing rival Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) on September 27, Shen lost their winning streak by a score of 40-20. Shen linebacker and tight end James Pepper Jr. described the early losses as “tough,” but he said he thinks his team will grow and improve as a result.
“I think those losses are crucial to get better,” he said.
Offensive right guard Carson Vara said that the loss against CBA has fueled the team to put more into their training.
“We had opportunities to win those games, but we didn’t. We’ve talked about it a lot. It’s really gotten us angry and we’re all just practicing a lot harder now,” he said.
The more intense training paid off last Friday when Shen returned to winning ways and defeated Ballston Spa by a score of 28-6 to get their third victory of the season.
After the game, running back Caleb Brown reflected on the team’s performance so far this season.
“With two early season losses, some of my peers might be disheartened by our performance,” he said. “Shaker and CBA are historically our hardest opponents; I think facing them both earlier than usual makes us look mediocre on paper.
“Our team probably performed better against CBA than Ballston Spa,” he continued. “Last Friday [against Ballston Spa], it was pretty difficult for our offense to gain momentum, but I’m proud in what my team has accomplished. Last game marked the start of a huge win streak.”
As the team gets ready for Thursday’s match-up against Schenectady, they are dedicated to keeping their streak alive. Pepper said he’s confident and hopeful that his team can pull off more wins, in this week’s game and beyond.
“We expect the rest of our schedule to not be as challenging as CBA or Shaker. We don’t take any team lightly, but we want to keep winning through the season, for sure,” Pepper said.
One thing that all three players appear to agree on is that the team has more wins ahead of them and that their season is far from over.
“By the time playoffs come around, we’re all going to be ready. That’s pretty much our mindset right now, so we’re super energized to keep going and hopefully take it as far as we can,” Vara said.
