The start of the new school year and football season brought many changes to the DRHS football team including new players, new captains, new games, and new tactics. After the seniors of 2023 graduated last year, the upperclassmen of the team were left with a big role to fill. Not only do they have to keep up with their own skills, but they also have to teach the lowerclassmen, just like the seniors before them did. The seniors and captains are the ones feeling the most pressure.
“A lot of pressure is being put on the seniors and juniors,” senior and DRHS football captain Connor Swanson said. “It’s kind of on those classes to step up and play a significant role on the team.”
Since the captains are responsible for teaching and guiding the lowerclassmen, if the freshmen act out of line, it is up to the captains to discipline the freshmen and teach them how to behave maturely.
“We are lucky our seniors are supportive of the team,” DRHS football coach Jeremiah Behrendsen said.
The team has built up strong relationships with each other over the season and has given the players the best team chemistry DRHS has had in years.
“We’re all so close with each other,” senior and DRHS football captain Blake Palladino said. “I’ve never been on a team where we’re all this close of friends.”
The team went to Florida together at the beginning of the year, took weightlifting classes over the summer, and went to Pueblo during summer break. All of these trips gave the players the chance to get to know each other outside of just the game.
“I think it takes all of us,” Swanson said. “We couldn’t do it by ourselves.”
Coach Behrendsen agrees.
“Each week we talk about getting 1% better,” Behrendsen said. “As coaches, we make practices as perfect as possible, and we have film sessions, and all those things help the players to see the game.”
By going over the videos of the games they have won and lost, players are able to see what they did well and what they could improve on. The coaches slow down the footage to give each team member a play-by-play of the things that they noticed.
The Eagles next play Standley Lake on Friday, October 27.
