After battling through a tough season, the Stevens Raiders football season came to an end. The Raiders had a hard season finishing with a record of 0-9. There were many ups and downs over the last 3 months like new coaches, team dinners, and injuries.
Senior Ayden Kellog said, “The biggest struggles were just staying motivated, you know, coming into practice when you 0-8, but yeah, just keeping team morale up, I’d say.” Junior Henry Telechan said, “For me would be the losses 100% and just trying to bounce back from them.” It is no secret it is hard to lose in anything you do, especially when you are trying your best to win. Battling that is not only physically, but mentally hard to stay locked in throughout the season.
Varsity wasn’t the only group to see changes. Freshman Apollo Georgas said, “I mean, the JV teams probably having to play them as freshman and having to play both ways.” Once again it is not secret when you play teams with players a year or more older than you it makes for a hard season.
Another struggle that held back the Raiders this year was the changing of coaches from last year. It left the Raiders with only about 4 coaches to start the year and made it hard to get solid foundation set quickly.
However, it was just not all struggles and tough times. Telechan said, “I think the practices compared to last year ended up being a lot better. I think the energy was good with the team and I think just getting to be an upperclassman is kind of nice when I’ve never been in that role before.”
Even with the coaching changes practices were still able to be a highlight for the team this year. Kellog said, “We haven’t had much success on either side of the ball but as an offensive line I felt like we’ve done very well this year protecting the quarterback.” The offensive line full of seniors was another highlight of the Raiders team this year.
Kellog continued, “The bus rides for sure. Just a lot of fun being stuck in a bus with your friends for 7 hours.” Even with not having the best success the team was still able to make long lasting memories. Georgas said, “We almost beat Central.” The varsity team had their closest game of the year with Central. The end score only being a 2-point difference making the team feel more accomplished than totally defeated.
“I mean we did pretty well the freshman team at least won a game.” said Georgas. The freshman had a good season and have a lot to look forward to the next couple years. However, the upperclassman had different responses. Telechan said, “I would have liked to at least get a win, but I think that there was a lot of issues, like internally, especially with the coaching staff. I also think that a lot of people weren’t bought in just because of that reason.” Kellog added, “Well as a senior its not the final year I’d like to have, but it’s been fun just going out and having fun with friends out on the field.” While the upperclassmen were not satisfied with their season or their record, it was fun for everyone to get out as a team and play a sport they love.
With the tough season there were high and low moments for the players and the school. And a record that didn’t really show what the Raiders were all about. For now the Raiders set their sights on fixing their mistakes and getting ready for next year.