Even after a 41-20 loss to Robbinsdale Cooper Oct. 23, senior Austin Amelse said the team had a lot more energy than past games and stepped up its offense in the second half of the game.

“I saw a lot of improvement from weeks prior. We showed a lot of resilience fighting back in the second half; we matched their touchdowns. They had two touchdowns, and we had two touchdowns. We showed a lot of fight,” Amelse said. “At the end of the game, we didn’t give up like we did in the last couple weeks. And I saw improvement on both sides of the ball. Overall we did lose, but it’s a good step forward.”

According to head coach Jason Foster, the loss was due to lack of communication in the game. Foster said that in order to improve communication, it is important for the players to look back and see what went wrong.

“There was still a lot of miscommunication. It ended up in a 41-20 loss, but physically we match pretty well with them. It was more (of a) communication failure than anything else,” Foster said. “To fix that, we need to watch the film with the guys letting them see the mistakes that were made due to communication failures.” 

Senior Jordan Moore said as the game went on, the team fell apart and the lack of teamwork was the main reason they lost.

“The reason why our team breaks down is because of miscommunication. We need to come together as a team chemistry wise,” Moore said.

Going forward, the focus at practice will be team bonding and creating an optimistic atmosphere among players so the team can communicate better at games, according to Foster. 

“Overall, we need to keep grinding and go back to the drawing board as far as communication goes. (We need to) get the guys to be positive and make sure that they just all stick together as a team and be one,” Foster said.

Amelse said they have the skills to win games and everyone gets along well, but they need to work together better at games and work on keeping morale up.

“It’s just being more confident — we have the talent. We just need to go all in. My teammates and my coaches have all helped a lot, and it’s a great unit,” Amelse said. “We just have some really great team players, and everyone’s accepting of everyone, there’s no beef in between the team. The team is a great group of guys.”

The teams next game will be against Spring Lake Park at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at Spring Lake Park High School. If you are interested in attending, contact Andy Ewald.