As the end of the season nears, injuries always become an issue in a contact sport such as football. This year is no exception to this. The past week as we prepared for Penns Valley, there were a lot of guys that could not practice like normal die to injuries and many guys practicing are feeling a little dinged up. Due to this and maybe some other factors, last week’s practices were not quite as crisp as the football team would have liked—especially as we prepared to play a much improved team in Penns Valley.

When Penns Valley plays Tyrone in football, it is a huge game for them. If they would defeat us in a game, it could make their season. So their guys were coming into the game fired up and ready to go, meanwhile, we had to try and match that intensity—the  fact that this was our homecoming game aided in our intensity level.

Jogging out onto the field, I realized that I only would have two more guaranteed games at Gray Vets Field including the Penns Valley game. That was quite a moment for me as I thought back over the previous three years I had been playing varsity ball. All the seniors were thinking something along those lines before the game, because we had talked about it all week.

During homecoming games and senior nights, the football team spends more time in the locker room than normal because we have to end our warm ups early to allow for the ceremonies on the field. This allows for more time to marinate on what each person needs to do in order for us to get better.

After trailing early in the game 7-0, we learned that we have some resilience in us. We did not panic; instead we continued to do what we needed to do. This allowed us to come back and eventually win the game pretty decisively.

Now it is onto the last regular season game of the year against Johnstown.