Although the varsity football team did not make the playoffs this year, players and coaches believe the team has turned a corner this year though it’s hard fought battles.

The season started with enthusiasm and increased school spirit after the team defeated Crockett and Reagan in pre-district games that helped hype spirit.

The brief undefeated streak caused multiple student-led organizations to show support, exponentially increasing school spirit, which in years’ past, has been low.

“We are turning the program around,” senior quarterback Ryan Medrano said. “We aren’t just a doormat anymore.”

However, when district games started, the winning streak ended. After a hard fought game against Del Valle, the Eagle’s lost, 25- 33.

After another hard week of practice, the football team went against Lehman, but lost to the Lobos by one touchdown with a extra point, with a score of 35-42. The scores were much closer than in years past but the team still struggled to win district games.

Going against Anderson High, the team fought hard, but couldn’t pull off the win, losing 12-38, and the school spirit we had been creating at the beginning of the year, started fading.

“We started getting injuries, and that played a big part of us losing a lot of these games,” junior, defensive tackle, Patrick Dickerson said.

The Eagle’s came close to pulling off a second-half upset during the Austin High game. After falling behind by 35 points in the first half,

quarterback Ryan Medrano rallied his team, scoring over 30 points and coming six points away from winning in the last minutes of the game.

When the team played Westlake, the players knew they were up against a powerhouse, which ultimately put 70 points on the board. However, the team didn’t give in, scoring 28 points against a team that has a perennial contender for state titles.

Bowie game wasn’t much better, with an ending score of 7-41. Although the chance of play-offs are off the table, the football team is ready to push to the end and make sure the seniors will leave on a good note.

“We were in every single ball game except the West- lake game and the Bowie game” Garza said. These two were the only games where the team lost by more than 8 points when the game ended.

Then the by week came and brought some regrouping and lots more training to work as a team. They spent the entire week continually pushing to get better and try for a win to end the season.

“This bye week has brought us closer together.” Dickerson said, “We did a whole bunch of drills to get back to the basics and act as one.”

After the bye week, the team faced Hays at Nelson Field for senior night. The Eagle’s maintained a lead for more than half the game, but lost by in the last quarter with a final score of 20-28.

“This was a season of missed opportunities,” head football coach, Humberto Garza said. “We lost five district ball games by a touchdown.”

Garza believes that although we didn’t win what we wanted, we put ourselves on the map. This is very big,

especially because of our previous loss streaks with past football teams.

As the football team closes the season, even the seniors are excited for the years to come. They believe that there is a lot of talent on the team, and with some more experience that can push the team into playoffs.

“The football team hasn’t played to their full potential yet; their … really young” said Medrano.

Medrano said he still believes the team has potential to improve after a disappointing season. The fact that only 14 seniors are graduating proves Medrano’s point that the team has years to grow still.

He sees a bright future for the team and so does his teammate Patrick Dickerson.

The team are not put down by their end result. Even the graduating quarterback believes there is a

bright future coming to the football program.

“Don’t doubt the football team.” Medrano said. Next year, “it’s going to be totally different. They are going to have returners, they’ll be mature. It’s a process”

The team is continually pushing themselves to get better and better, and hope for a successful season next year. The end of this season may have brought less wins than hoped for, but it brought growth for the team.

“Overall, we had great senior leadership, but also we had guys that found out that never quit attitude,” Garza said, “if you keep working hard, good things will happen.”

Garza said he believes that although the Eagles didn’t make the playoffs, the team has seen much more success than past years. With some time, the team can have future success on the field.