Editor’s Note:  “Inside the Huddle” is new weekly feature in the Eagle Eye by Seth Umholz.  Using his unique perspective as a senior and team captain, Seth will reflect on each game and provide thoughts on the upcoming match-up each week of the football season.

After starting the season off on a good note with a 20-6 win against Bellwood, last week the varsity football team had an even tougher opponent in front of them in Central High School.

We all knew that Central was going to be a very good football team—possibly the best team we face all year. Due to that, everyone on the team knew that the whole week had to be full of good practices to help get us ready for Friday night.

As far as age goes, Central was about just the opposite of what we are this year. We only had 6 seniors that had played the previous year on the team and though they are working very hard and coming along quite nicely, the fact is that our offensive line still consisted of (other than me) two sophomores, one freshman, and one senior with minimal experience. Also, the defensive line is pretty much just as young and inexperienced. Meanwhile, the Dragons had almost 20 seniors on their team and had plenty of experience—something that we lacked. However, we were confident that we would hold our own again the more veteran team.

It was a gorgeous day for football—not very hot or humid. The team was focused and ready for the task ahead of them throughout warm ups and the pre-game ceremonies. In the locker room, we went over a few last second tips for the game. Then, the seniors told the team what they felt their hearts wanted them to say before we went into battle. Once again, James Oliver’s dad (who is a volunteer coach) gave us a rousing pre-game speech right before we walked out of the locker room and charged onto the field.

It was a hard-fought game on both sides and at the end of the first half Central was leading 19-0. In the locker room, we all know that we had to step our game in the second half and keep fighting until the bitter end.

The second half was better for us in that we outscored our opponents 12-6. Unfortunately, that was not enough and we lost to the Dragons with a final score of 25-12. However, I am very proud of our team because we did not give up and kept fighting until the final whistle. This week we are putting Central behind us and are continuing to focus on getting better as we prepare to play Huntingdon Friday night.