As summer comes to an end and the long worry free summer days give way to shorter nights and days spent in school, most high school students are upset that their summer of fun is over and it is back to the old grind.  But not football players.  The start of the school year also marks the start of their season.  It is time to take all of the blood, sweat, and tears, poured into offseason preparation, and see if the hours spent watching film, hitting the weight room and drilling on the practice field will yield results.

Last season the Minutemen finished at 2 and 8, with many of their games not even being close contests.  As soon as the season ended, the team started off-season weight lifting, and the hard work towards improving on last season began.  After going through some rough times last year, the team feels as though it was a learning curve.

“Last season it was tough losing a lot, morale wasn’t high, and it was hard because we all wanted to win so bad” said linebacker James Merril ‘16, “But I think it brought us closer as a team, and taught us valuable lessons that will benefit us this season”.

This season the Minutemen hope to use the lessons towards improving together as a team and showing everyone what they are capable of.

Playing in a tough conference consisting of many top notch teams, the Minutemen do not have an easy schedule ahead of them, but the team is confident in their abilities, and feels that they can compete with anybody.

“If we play good tough football and limit our mistakes, I feel like we can play with anybody” said defensive lineman Chris Wizzart ‘16.

On a beautiful Friday night, under the bright Friday night lights, the Minutemen took on Cherokee in their first game of the season. In front of the packed and rowdy student section with students covered in red and blue body paint, the minutemen put on a show in the first half and held their own with the powerful Cherokee team. Taking a 13-10 lead into halftime, the Minutemen looked like a team to be reckoned with.  Though the team ultimately fell 33-13, the game was a lot closer than the scoreboard tells, and the team certainly put up a valiant effort an made Cherokee fight for every yard.

“We felt like we were in the game the whole time, but we made a couple mistakes and it came back to bite us in the end” said linebacker Kyle Bogacki ‘16.

After looking good in the first half, the Minutemen showed flashes of their potential to be a very good team.  “I think we played a good first half” said linebacker Chris Wizzart ‘16, “if we played like that in the second half and capitalized on some opportunities, that game could’ve easily been ours.”.

In the second game of the season, the Minutemen took on a tough Hammonton team on the road.  As the team struggled to get anything going for much of the game, the team suffered its second consecutive loss, at a score of 24-8. The team was off to yet another 0-2 season, and with a tough third game against a very talented Shawnee team, the Minutemen were staring right in the face of another 0-3 start.

“We knew Shawnee was going to be a tough game, but we also knew that it was a game we had to win” said Merril.

Win is exactly what they did. The Minutemen pulled out a 19-17 nail-biting win on the road at Shawnee. The team was fueled by big plays from receiver Nick Grosso ‘16 and consistent accurate passes from junior quarterback Mike Piperno ‘17.  The defense held its own and the team pulled off the upset that no one saw coming… except them.

“We had a lot of confidence going into the game and we knew that if we played our game and executed our plays, we could win the game” said Kyle Bogacki.  The team went into the game confident and came out with an impressive victory.  After celebrating their first win, the celebration was short lived, and it was immediately back to work, preparing for one of their most challenging games of the season in week 4.

Going into week 4 with a 1-2 record, the minutemen face a tough timber creek team in this week’s matchup. With senior linebacker and team captain James Merril out with a torn ligament in his ankle, the defense will have to find someone to step up and fill in his shoes for the next 2-4 weeks.

“It’s going to be tough without Merril” said Chris Wizzart “but I think we can fill up the hole and still play solid defense even without James”.

The high powered Timber Creek team will certainly be a tough challenge for the Minutemen, but the team is once again confident in themselves and isn’t going to go down without a fight. “If we play our game we can play with anybody” said senior James Merril.

With the game taking place at Tom Brown stadium under the bright lights, it is sure that the student section will be loud and rowdy once again, hopeful to cheer their team to victory.    The game takes place at 7:00, and maybe just maybe, the Minutemen team will show everyone that they are the real deal against the top-ranked Timber Creek team.