Football celebrates successful 2013 campaign

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Huntyr Wooley, Reporter

The football team fought a hard battle this season, with the crowd roaring in their favor the whole time. It was a successful year, with the team making it to three playoff games. The seahawks did not come out on top in the last playoff quarterfinal game against Bellevue High School, however they and their fans could not be more proud of the teams success.

The team has been working very hard in order to achieve the most they could. The coaches are a main attribute to their success, because they try to improve players as a whole team. Senior Avega Siolo has been a crucial part of the team this year, scoring 23 touchdowns this season, and he agrees that the coaches assisted the team to their success.

“It has to be the coaches letting us know what we’re doing,” Siolo said. “I think we have the best coaching staff in the state. Coaches work just as hard as the players.”

Siolo said he was very grateful to be on the team. Everybody on the team knows the assignments, making it “easier” to play and understand the game. This helped them improve and finish their season strong. Head coach Ross Filkins thinks hard work through practice helped the boys achieve success.

“The players worked hard everyday and came to practice with a great attitude, and we got better everyday,” Filkins said. “That allowed us to win eight straight for a back to back undefeated league championship and appearance in the State Quarterfinals.”

All of the hard work and dedication has paid off. Since May the boys have been giving it their all in order to go far. They have come out of a beginning “slump” and senior captain Ben Smith thinks all the additional help from coaches and the techniques used show the growth of the year.

“We work to improve in all areas and play to our strengths,” Filkins said.

“We’ve been watching films at practice and we’ve been going over the things they have done over the season to help us,” Smith said. “We spend a lot of time together at practices and we work together at meetings and what not, to really build chemistry to work as a group.”

The team this year was 3 and 0 in preseason. But they pulled it together to be undefeated league champions. Watching practice and game film showed them what they needed to correct and how to avoid making certain mistakes again. It benefited the entire team. The coaches also liked the idea that they knew what to focus more on at practices, if there were repeated mistakes.

Smith thinks the team bonding is one of the most important factors for success. He believes even if they came across a team that may have a few stronger athletes, the Seahawks chemistry, well-thought out game plans, and the dedication from each player, creates a greater chance of pulling into a win.

“I’m excited to see where things are going to go,” Smith said. “Go Hawks.”

Some of the coaching staff’s favorite memories were just being present at all the games and watching the team grow. Siolo was grateful he was able to maintain a relationship with the coaching staff all four years. Smith loved leading the team, with all of the other senior leaders. He enjoyed all of the team bonding, and how it contributed to improvement.

“We worked to improve in all areas and play to our strengths,” Filkins said. “I really enjoy practice everyday and watching the team develop.”

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Jackie Haines Photos