Captains of the Week: Varsity Football

By JOONYOUNG HEO and SID MAHAJANA

Thirty minutes before the game, the boys varsity football team can hear the rumble of hundreds of feet outside as spectators rush into the stadium, picking out their seats and shouting across the rows. The team waits in anticipation in the locker room as the racket gets louder and louder, then louder still. But three voices rise above the deafening noise—these are seniors and team captains Cade McMillan, Nihaal Rana, and Reid Burke, and in the past few weeks, they have strengthened the team and prepared them for the season ahead. When the players rush onto the field and the whistle blows, they do what they’ve trained tirelessly for—they win, and they win as a team.

Unsurprisingly, the captains have had a long history with football. “I’ve been playing football since I was eight years old,” Rana said. “So I’ve spent a lot of time with it. Thankfully, my head is still intact.”

“I started playing football as a sixth-grader in Texas,” McMillan said. “Then I played all the way through my junior year in Texas before I reclassed and came to Exeter as a new upper. Coach Vulgaris saw me at a football camp and talked me into taking a look at the school. I visited campus, liked the people, liked the facilities, and liked the school.”

Despite missing their first few years at the Academy, the team quickly recognized their many talents. “As a new lower on the team, I guess I made an impact,” Rana said. “Leading by example, being a voice, being someone that everyone could look up to, doing the right thing. For this year’s captaincy, it was a player’s vote, so Coach Voulgaris grabbed all of us and he said, think of the top people who you think would fit as the captains of this team. And my name was one, and Cade and Reid were the other two.”

The team’s decision has evidently paid off. “They definitely deserve the job,” upper Thomas Hoey said. “They all help out the team in different ways. Nihaal’s our starting left, just a great player. He’s more of a physical presence than a vocal one, but his play on the field makes him someone we can look up to. Reid and Cade are also players who come in every day and put in everything they have during practice. They get kids on the right track and keep us in line. I really appreciate having them as captains.”

“I think the most notable thing about our captains is their ability to lead by example,” senior Cordel Epale said. “They often set the tone of practice and make sure that others follow their lead. They are highly energetic and demand excellence with everything and everyone, and they ultimately get the intended results.”

Head coach Panos Voulgaris agreed. “In the early going of the season, the captains have shown that they are driven to set a good example for the team,” he said. “Their work ethic and commitment to discipline have been strong.”

Besides the practical success of their captainship, the team has also developed a special kind of captain-player dynamic. “I wouldn’t say it’s a relationship between captain and player at all,” upper Ewan Newton said. “It’s more player to player, teammate to teammate. They’re the captains, sure, but we’re all very familiar with each other. We always socialize together, and I think that transfers to the field.”

“They’re outspoken when they need to be, but there’s not any huge power dynamic,” upper Aiden McCarthy said. “Everyone is friendly with each other, and that brings the entire team together.”

To maintain this special relationship within the team, the captains draw great inspiration from their predecessors. “Both of the previous captains were easy to approach, easy to get in touch with, performed well on the field, and played with a lot of heart,” McMillan said. “So I think that’s my goal — when I get on the field, I just do my best to win, and I make sure my teammates know that they can come to me if they need anything.”

“Last year’s captains have definitely influenced my leadership style, especially Brandon Wong,” Rana said. “One thing I took from him is trying to bring that energy. He was always ecstatic to be at practice. He was always the one yelling, doing all the chants, and we’re just trying to do that for ourselves with this team.”

In particular, the benefits of their spirit-building leadership shine through when the team might otherwise hit a rough patch. “The relationships between the players on the field have really improved since preseason, and that makes a big difference,” McMillan said. “When you’re narrowed in and you want to compete, it can be hard to work together. But our team has that bond, and it gives us what we need to win a game.”

That also means the team can get back together in an instant. “Recently we just had a very competitive practice,” Rana said. “In the intensity of the moment we got after each other and kids were getting heated, but it’s what the team needs sometimes. And once it was over, that was it. None of the hostility carried over and we remembered that we’re family again.”

This close sense of family has equally translated into some memorable moments off the field. “My favorite is when we’re listening to music in the changing room after practice,” Epale said. “The energy is electric and you’ll have guys singing their hearts out. The joy of being there at that moment is almost a getaway from everything else at school.”

“Before preseason, we had a three-day camp in early August for kids who could make it,” Hoey said. “We would have some tough practices, but it was also just a fun time. We went out to dinner as a team and really spent those little moments together. Those moments add up, and they’ve set us up for success in the rest of the term.”

Looking to the season ahead, captains and players alike are determined to continue their impressive record. “We have such a great roster this season,” Rana said. “Of course, it’s going to be decided on who’s going to show up and who’s going to be the better team in the moment of truth, but that’s how it always is. We’ll take it one game at a time, focus on the week ahead, and if we’re successful each week, it’ll add up to a great season.”

“We still have a long way to go with many challenges ahead,” Voulgaris said. “The goal is to persevere through the inevitable challenges presented to us. We must be resilient.”

“Our goal is to go undefeated,” McMillan said. “I’m sure it hasn’t even been stated by anyone on the team, but it’s every bit implied. We want every win this year to be very convincing and not let it come down to bad plays. I know we have the players to do it.”

Varsity Football captains smile for a photo outside of library.  Hillary Yoon / The Exonian