After key senior players graduated last year, the RM varsity football team was left with many gaps. They also have new team captains, and it’s been a period of adjustment. Although the season hasn’t gone ideally, hopes are kept high, and the team continues to combat challenges.

Losing so many seniors can change not only the team leaders but also the amount of skill and confidence. “What we do is we just try to tell our team that we’re good and we got it and try to stay as confident as possible,” senior receiver Alden Croarkin said. “All we do is watch film, make sure we come to practice and work on what we need to, and hopefully it translates to game day.”

However, the efforts at practice haven’t seemed to translate well into the games, which can be a point of frustration but the team’s attitude hasn’t faltered. Captains such as Croarkin corroborate this idea that practice points haven’t affected the games too much and the team’s ability to perform.  “I haven’t noticed it too much, but I feel like some of us are still thinking that, you know, some of those players will come back but at the end of the day we all know who we have and we’re all confident in who we have,” Croarkin said.

Certain players have stood out from the crowd and amped up their game as a response to the absence of strong former players. “I mean we’ve got some new players like Amari who makes big plays every game, and we’ve got some guys from last year like Mickey or Alden or Axel, but like Mickey or Alden who have made a lot of big plays,” junior Noah Denny said. First-year players have also made an impact on a team early in the season. “Jaylen Garcia, number 12, he’s never played a down football in his life, and he came in and that was one of our best receivers that we have,” Croarkin said. 

With only two games in the regular season remaining, Churchill and Gaithersburg, the team’s primary goals mainly consist of maintaining a steady tempo as the season pushes forward. “A big goal is obviously like finish the season above .500, and get a home playoff game and win that, and hopefully go further, but right now, I mean the focus is just on this week,” Denny said. 

Coaches and captains also play a big role in pushing the team towards their goals, with, “a big emphasis on discipline.”

“At practice, we just gotta work as hard as we can and success will come,” Croarkin said.  “Get everybody on the same page on all the plays and make sure we hit our rhythm down.”