Being a scholar-athlete can be very challenging. The football team is a team that puts a lot of work into their practices to prepare for Friday night’s games. There are many things other students don’t get to see behind the scenes. Every day they practice in the heat ready to improve their playing skills.

 “I never fold under pressure. I like pressure because I feel it makes me play better, and it turns me into a completely different player [ who’s] unguardable,” Alex Morales a senior, captain, and the wide receiver said.

 As a team, they take old skills and improve on them every season. “The different thing this year from the last is absolutely more experience. All those hard times last year, that experience paid off because you remember those things and you improve upon them,” their coach, Cisco, said. 

The players must also get good grades in order to play, balancing school with sports can be a challenging thing. “It is hard to manage both schoolwork and football, but I am able to do it because our coach gives us an hour after school and when I go home the first thing I work on is homework,” Jorge Hernandez, a junior and linebacker, said.

 How they do in class reflects on how they practice. “How you work in the classroom translates to your work ethic on the field. Bad work ethics, bad football playing, you don’t really need skills as long as you have the heart and passion to play,” Omar Santos, a senior, captain, and linebacker said.

Football is more than just fun to watch. There are many challenges that the players face. “I wish students can feel the adrenaline rush you get while being on the field and the struggle to fight on for almost an hour straight,” Ivan Nunez, a senior and wide receiver, said.

  Behind every game is a lot of hard work. “On Friday nights students only see the finished product, they don’t see the mental and physical strength it takes us to play this sport, we practice hard and push ourselves past our limits,” Omar said. 

In the end, without each other’s support, dedication, and hard work, they would not be the mighty team they are today. “A  team is a group of people who share the same goal and help each other accomplish it together,” Kevin Galvez, a junior and captain said.