Football
October 20, 2021
Despite some lopsided losses early in the season, Assistant Coach Chris Reilsono said that with each loss the team grows and improves.
“I think with all these losses have come benchmarks on where we should be and what we need to do. We see where we are at and where we want to be. It’s a difficult process, but we’re learning, evolving, and coming out better on the other side,” Reilsono said.
Reilsono said one of the toughest challenges is how young the football team is. Many of the starters are sophomores, so they are challenged on the field by opponents who are older and bigger.
Senior Luke Kjelshus agrees.
“I think we have a young team, so a lot of younger kids are going up against people who are older with more experience,” Kjelshus said.
Kjelshus said the loss to Bethel Park was the toughest defeat.
“We thought we would beat them, so we definitely underestimated them. It was really disappointing,” Kjelshus said. The football team is off to a 2-6 start this year, and the Highlanders have not had much playoff success in recent seasons. The players have become accustomed to hearing criticism, but they have learned to block out the negativity.
“It’s definitely teaching us to be resilient. The one thing I always say to my running backs is remember this but also understand that we don’t live in this moment,” Reilsono said.
Kjelshsus said it’s easy to ignore the criticism, as the team encourages each other despite the losses.
“The team has many close-knit friendships, so it’s easy to uplift each other,” Kjelshus said.
Reilsono said the team has bonded through the hardships.
“It’s friendships. It’s family,” he said. “If you’re going through a rough time, who better to be there than your family?”
The Highlanders cited the win against Norwin as one season highlight.
“When we beat Norwin, it felt amazing. When we went into the locker room during the half, we were down 10-0, but not a single person in the locker room didn’t think we could come back. We knew what we had to do and we did exactly that,” Kjelshus said.
Looking forward, Kjelshus thinks the seasons to come will be successful.
“I think the future looks good, because we have a lot of younger kids with a lot of talent. They just haven’t had a lot of varsity experience,” he said.