October brought many beginnings to Freedom High School. The beginning of fall, sweater weather and even the freezing days inside the seemingly heat-less building. However, along with all of these new beginnings, the football season has come to an end. The bulldogs finished off their season, but weren’t able to secure a playoff position.

The end of this season can be interpreted in different ways.

“For the seniors, they are going to be done after this year, but for a freshman if you make mistakes, you still have next year,” Freshman Michael Muron said.

“It has been a learning experience,” Sophomore Nick Henderson said.

For many underclassmen, this season was only the beginning, but what about the Seniors that we’ll send off at the end of this year? Many high school seniors across America played there last games on the football field this month. For a small percentage, the game will continue through their college years, but for the vast majority, these precious games were the end. The true sadness for the end of times with teammates can be seen in the seniors at FHS.

“One thing that I’m definitely going to miss are the skits that we did during camp. They were so funny. We would just tease the coaches and some of the other kids,” Senior Lucas Yeck said. “I’m just going to miss the little team moments that we had during camp and stuff. It’s just going to be sad not playing anymore.”

“I think that the main thing is just being with everyone. Every day you are with the people you’ve grown up with and played football with your whole life,” Senior Draek Boggs said. “As soon as that’s over and you’re not playing football anymore and you’re not going to see them as much as you used to.”

The seniors had a lot to say about not only the 2014 season, but all of their years with Freedom football.

“I think it’s a lot of dedication and it’s a lot of heart. I’m sure that every other team out there puts in as much work as us, maybe even more,” Senior Josh Battaglia said. “But I think that there are a lot of times when it’s harder to play on a losing team because you’re not just there for the glory. You’re there because you care about the team.”

Yeck accounted some of his greatest life lessons to his years on the team.

“The thing that I have taken away is probably that hard work shows the best results. That if you don’t have hard work then you’re not really going to get anywhere,” Yeck said.

Boggs stressed the hardships associated with playing for a team like Freedom.

“Anyone can play for a winning team…It takes a certain person to play for a losing team,” Boggs said.

With this season just finishing off, many students at FHS aren’t focused on next year’s games just yet, but the boys on the team are already thinking ahead.

“We’re all young, so we expect good things in the future. We have a great upcoming team,” Henderson said.

This “great up and coming team” has really proven itself. With a better record than the Varsity team, the future of Freedom Football has shown potential for success.

“I feel like [the next few years] will go the same way but I think that we will win even more because we have like all of our sophomores playing J.V. I think that we will continue to improve,” Sophomore Kody Komara said.

“Playoffs. [Next year] we’re getting second place and going to playoffs,” Junior Jake Pinkerton said. While the seniors may be sad about moving on, their confidence in their future of the program has some of them leaving advice behind for underclassmen.

“Just put in as much dedication as you can. Lifting weights in the off season. Eat right, and stay healthy,” Battaglia said.

“The main thing is just keep working hard and do what you need to do. I know that it sucks playing for a losing team, but we went to the playoffs one of the four years, keep working hard and it’s going to happen again,” Boggs said.

While it very well may “suck playing for a losing team,” the boys won their homecoming game against Summit Academy. In fact, that win marked our third homecoming game victory since the beginning of the new millennium.