[quote]By Turner Smith (Editor-in-Chief)                                                            Photo by Brittney Coates[/quote]

It wasn’t the best start last Friday against Neuqua Valley for the football team as they lost 38-14, but the program was able to take comfort in flashes of a very strong offense and an aggressive defense.

Regardless of how last Friday’s match-up played out, the team continues to be confident, with good reason, when they consider the season’s large potential that remains.

“Half the teams in the state are 1-0, and the other half are 0-1. The teams that make the most improvements from week one to week two will perform the best,” senior quarterback Conner Lovely said.

The foundation for the team to build off of from week one is a good one. The offense managed to score twice, once on a nine-yard run by senior running back Maurice Burkley, and again on a four-yard run by junior running back Alonzo Taylor Jones. Lovely threw for multiple 20+ yard pass completions, and early in the game, he had an electric first down run on a fake-punt-pass play on fourth down.

“Once our offense gets in a rhythm, it’s hard to stop,” senior linebacker Joel Nanni said.

But the offense wasn’t the only side of the ball to have flashes on a very large potential: the defense was able to force multiple three-and-outs.

“The defense was stout despite the score,” Nanni said.

Even though the Neuqua Valley program moved over to the DVC the same year as ours, the seed of doubt was still planted in a few minds about whether or not our program is ready for the increased talent in the DVC.  After all, football fans are notorious for getting worried early.

That doubt was nowhere to be found among our program’s members.

“We trust our system. No game here is easy, but we’re still ready to move forward,” Nanni said. “We know what we’re getting ourselves into. This is the strongest conference in Illinois, but we’re ready to perform.”

The main message is this: it’s not time to panic yet. There are still a lot of games to be won, beginning with our first game against an experienced member of the DVC, Naperville North, this Friday.

“There are week to week wrinkles to iron out, [but] there are no changes in our game plan per say. We will most definitely win more games,” Lovely said.