The Timberwolves varsity football team started its season Saturday, Aug. 16, with two-a-day practices.
“They were hard,” senior Brandon Poston said, “but it was mainly to get conditioned with most players playing both ways(offense and defense).”
But before the two-a-days had even begun, some of the players were doing other things to ready themselves for their first season.
“Over the summer, we would come in the morning, lift weights, go outside and run, then we would run through formations for offense and defense,” Poston said.
Besides lifting weights, running and going through formations, the players also spend time improving on their other skills.
“We’ve been working on fundamentals like blocking and tackling,” varsity coach Bill Lowe said, “because we’re young and inexperienced.”
Many of the players have never played in a varsity game until this season.
“The team is finding out who will be the starters at their positions and finding a defense that will stop both the run and pass,” Poston said.
The Timberwolves have been playing it be ear so far this season to see who will be playing at which positions, which are determined by the amount of effort the players give in games and practice.
“We hope to play hard, play with passion, and see how things go from there,” Lowe said.
“The schedule we have to face this season is pretty tough,” sophomore Sarah Newell said,” but I think all the hard work they’re putting into the season will help them perform well and come out with a good record.”
On Sept. 3, the first Blue Valley Southwest game was played at Bishop Miege High school. Senior Taylor Smith managed to score a touchdown with five minutes left in the first half. The score at halftime was 34-7, Miege in the lead. In the second half, Southwest was unable to score and the final score of the game was 54-7.
“Even though we lost,” Newell said, ”I think the players did really well for their first game ever. They kept their game up the entire time. We just need to improve our defense.”
With the majority of the players never before playing varsity, the players have been working on adjusting to the different pace.
“It was a big transition with our team being young,” Poston said. “The game speed changes majorly.”
On Sept. 10, the first Southwest home game was played. It got cancelled in the second quarter due to lightning and was rescheduled for that Saturday at 3. The game was continued at Blue Valley High. The final score of the game was 56-0, BV winning.
“They came out and they outweighed most of the players by 50 pounds,” Poston said.
It’s not the game itself that everyone comes to see. The atmosphere is part of it as well.
“My favorite part (of the first game)was seeing all the people from our school show up and come together to support our school,” Newell said.
The crowds singing of, “Hey baby,” is the typical song you’d see the crowd getting into at a varsity game. The games are filled with fans participating in many cheers led by the cheerleaders.
“All us cheerleaders want is the crowd to get excited for the game,” Newell said. “When you hear us cheering, clap or yell along and show some spirit.”
As for the different parts of the game, halftime is a time for other people in the school to become involved in that evening’s event. At the first away game for example, Miege had their entire freshman class on the field forming an “M”, to stand for Bishop Miege. Each of them was carrying a red or blue balloon, in which at the end of their small showing, they each released their balloons. Southwest then started chanting, “Out school’s green.”