Football Beats Chesire School
By ROHIT KANTAMNENI and LEO ZHANG
The Academy’s Varsity boys’ football team traveled to Cheshire Academy on Saturday, Oct. 8. Cheshire’s team proved to be strong; however, the Academy’s football team overcame them with an impressive 31-13 victory. The team now holds a 4-0 record, one of the best starts in recent years for the program.
Before the game, the atmosphere at Cheshire was animated. “It was Cheshire’s parents’ weekend, so I’d say the atmosphere before the game was pretty electric. They had a decent size student section out there,” senior and varsity player Drew McClutchy said.
Senior Liam Brown reflected on the team’s attitude going into the game. “I think [we] were confident that if we executed [the game] well, we could absolutely win, but we knew Cheshire was a good team last year and that they had a tendency to play dirty, so everyone was focused on making sure they knew their assignments, doing a little review in the locker room.”
The offence started the game slowly. “Our offense had a few mistakes early, so the sentiment among the offense was that we needed to pick it up and take advantage of the opportunities we were being given,” Brown said.
As the game progressed, however, the offense began to find its rhythm. “We went into the game with our typical game plan based on our scouting report. Coach Voulgaris made some excellent adjustments in our running game at halftime that were very effective. Our defense came out very strong in the first half and set the tone for the game,” said Coach David Hudson.
The defense remained consistent and effective throughout the game. McClutchy described the strategy of the defense. “They had a really strong wide receiver core, along with a really strong offensive line. We knew we had to neutralize their quarterback. We did that through the pass rush. We ran a lot of cover three with zone blitz and used that to force the quarterback out into the pocket where you couldn’t really throw the ball. And then [we] shut their offense down defensively, our line really held in there, and then we were just able to pick them apart.
Overall, the team is pleased with their performance. Senior and captain Anderson Lynch said, “Every game is a new challenge and Chesire is a good program. We knew what to expect going in thanks to the prep of our excellent coaching staff. It was certainly a challenge, but nothing we couldn’t handle.”
Brown said, “Honestly, it didn’t feel like the opposition was more or less skilled than prior opponents, it just felt like we were better prepared and because we were expecting them to be skilled and to play a little dirty, we played up to the level we thought we needed to win.”
The team had mixed feelings about whether the score reflected their performance. Hudson said, “Overall it reflects how we came out and played four solid quarters of complementary football and executed very well.”
On the other hand, McClutchy had a different thought. “They were a really challenging team. I think the score doesn’t reflect the talent they had. And I think as a team we just had a great game overall.”
Lynch had a more direct view. “I think they should’ve been shut out completely. They only scored at the end of the fourth quarter after a lot of our key defensive players were on the sideline. It was even more of a cruising win than the score showed.”
Regardless of their individual views, the entire team has an optimistic outlook about the rest of the season. Lynch said, “I mean we’re 4-0, what else needs to be said? We can always get better and we’re working hard every day to go from good to great.”
