On the practice field, two countdowns are happening. For the junior varsity flag football players, their final practice represents the end of a great season. For the varsity squad, it represents the final runway before some familiar games that will dictate their district tournament seeding. Both the coaching staff and athletes are preparing to take this challenge head-on, and those leaving are ready to support their team through the tournament.
Ross said the JV squad is highly competitive, and although both JV and varsity seasons are coming to a close in the next month or so, when looking back on JV’s season and the future of varsity, she’s very proud of the whole program in general.
“When I think of this team, I think of pride, really,” Ross said. “I’m super proud of how far our program’s come, even since last year. Our JV is highly competitive, more competitive than a lot of the schools in the state right now. I know they’re sad, and the coaching staff is sad that the season is so short, but there’s nothing but pride.”
Program-wide success is linked to the development of the JV squad this season. According to junior Rayna Kaufman, the season was defined by a shared learning curve that quickly transformed a group of strangers into a team.
“I think we all started at different places, different grades. No one really knew each other,” Kaufman said. “We’ve been able to build this really great team that all gets along really well. I think we’re really good with communication.”
As JV’s season is ending, varsity’s future path will be decided for them very soon. Several of the teams they will play against in the tournament bracket are teams they’ve played and won against. Senior Sydney McGarry-Walters said there is no reason for practices to be super complex. She said varsity is continuing to practice what they normally work on, keep putting in work and keep the mindset they had for their other games.
“I feel confident, but just because we’ve already beat (some of) these teams, we can’t overdo it and let our guard down,” McGarry-Walters said. “We still have to be working really hard and stay in the game-day mindset like we always have.”
Kaufman said the JV’s season also threw unique obstacles at the team. Due to scheduling challenges and uneven roster numbers across the league, the team had to learn how to adapt on the fly. She said there was a game where their own B-squad players had to temporarily join an opposing team’s roster just so a game could be played.
“There were some really weird games. For one, we had our B-team play against us one time. It was really hard to play against our own team because you don’t really want to score against them,” Kaufman said. “It’s harder to play against people who you’re a bit more familiar with. So I think just going with the flow has been a big thing.”
Ross said mental fortitude is precisely what she has been preaching for varsity’s future games. She said in a sport where momentum can switch very fast, she believes it’s not best to dwell on mistakes. She said she is prioritizing psychological readiness over physical drills, believing that football is more about an athlete’s mental state rather than their physical one.
“Mental toughness is a big thing. Football is a mental game, even more so than physical,” Ross said. “The biggest thing is, we’re gonna make mistakes, and it’s about shedding those mistakes quickly, getting over it, and moving on to the next thing because that’s what winners do.”
McGarry-Walters said their off-field connection is the foundation for everything they do on the field.
“(Teamwork) has everything to do with how to play,” McGarry-Walters said. “There’s not really a team without good teamwork. (Our) chemistry is really strong. We’re all really close on and off the field, and that really shows up in our plays and how we connect.”
Ross said the ultimate goal of the program stretches far beyond their future seeding or the upcoming games. She said it is about shifting how the athletes view their own capabilities, and athletes must remain confident in themselves and their team in what is usually a male-run sport.
“It goes back to the confidence thing, trying new things and being like, ‘Man, I can do hard things. I can learn new skills. I can show up in a space that’s typically male-dominated and succeed in that space,’” Ross said. “I also hope they want to come back and play again, and continue to build their competitiveness, move up in the program and mentor the younger people coming in.”
