As perennial underdogs for its district, expectations for a winning season have typically been low for varsity football team.

That changed when the Eagles won the first two non-district games of the season, defeating Crockett and Reagan. Attendance at the games went up and team spirit began to rise across campus.

Expectations were also higher this year after the team made it to the playoffs for the first time in school history last season.

After a string of losses to Del Valle, Lehman and Anderson, it will be a tough climb for the Eagles to make it to district as it prepares to face Westlake, Bowie, Hays and Lake Travis. The team would have also had to defeat the Austin High Maroons to chalk up the five wins needed to obtain a birth into the playoffs.

The Eagles Football team has always been known as the underdogs its district.

With the change of districts, the Akins football team has excelled. With a current standing of 2-3, the football team has become a symbol of determination in the Austin area football.

“This year we started off great, we were going 2-0, but then we got too relaxed,” said quarterback Ryan Medrano. “We’ve lost 3 games so far, so it’s set us back a bit.”

As the team’s progressed, they’ve fallen into a slump, which has taken some time to pull themselves out of, but if the team is setting their sights on making the playoffs for a second year in a row, they’ll have to pull through in order to gain the wins.

“It’s been tough, even with such a good start,” said kicker Jonathan Rodriguez. “The whole school had high expectations and we were scared to let them down.”

The 2013-2014 school year was a big change for the Akins football program, as they broke a slump they’d been in for years. This allowed them to experiment and progress this year as a team.

“I feel good about the rest of the season, even if it’ll be tough as long as we do our jobs and remove the mistakes, we’ll be fine,” Medrano said.

Currently, the team must win a total of 4 district games in order to make the playoffs, but as it stands, Akins is at the bottom of their district, with 3 loses. There’s still time to bring them up, as the team has 5 games left, against tough contenders.

When it comes down to it, the team will have to undergo major changes in order to deliver and make their way to the playoffs. The team has high hopes of bettering their record from last year, and progressing further into playoffs.

“I know we can do it, we just need to fix our mistakes, which aren’t just anyone but as a whole of course,” Rodriguez said.

This year, Akins came together to deliver a lot of spirit among the campus, which boosted the spirits of the football team. It was shown to really boost the confidence of the team, as they came victorious in the beginning of their season.

“It felt good,” said wide receiver Evan Rivera. “It helped us fight as the students boosted our spirits and helped us continue to fight for them.”

The team still has some time to go, and a small chance to make the playoffs for a second time.