Arapahoe’s freshman football team went 7-3 this season, gaining wins against Rocky Mountain, Heritage, Thunder Ridge, Rock Canyon, Eaglecrest, Cherokee Trail, and Smoky Hill. Unfortunately, They did lose to Mountain Vista, Cherry Creek, and Grandview. They played well this season and all believe that they had great team chemistry. They were led by Coach Alex Ace, Coach Mike Knox, and Coach Landon Patts. 

We interviewed Andrew Smart, Tyson Watson, JP Medina, all players on the freshman football team to get a better insight into the team. Smart first described the massive change everyone on the team endured going from the middle to high school level.

In eighth grade, the practices were only twice a night, but they were quickly whipped into shape immediately after continuation, starting practice at 6:30 am every day of the summer. Although this was a massive change, the players adjusted and began feeling more like a team. 

The jamboree especially was a great bonding experience, Smart says that it “was like our first game as a team, I wouldn’t say real game, but it was like the first time we saw what we could do as a team.” The season officially began with a 60-0 sweep against Rocky Mountain High School. This win dangerously inflated the ego of the team as a whole. 

Smart describes how, “the first 3 games of our season we were playing really well, we beat every team by 40 and up. And then we went to mountain vista thinking we were going to win the game by a lot just like every other game and then we ended up losing the game and so it was kinda like a way for us to get humbled I guess.” 

This 16-28 loss against Mountain Vista helped the team realize that there was still work to be done and that they couldn’t just go in anywhere expecting wins. The following games were an obvious improvement. 

Smart explains their following against rock canyon, stating, “we went into the game thinking that it was going to be a battle, and so we played really well that game and we didn’t get cocky. We ended up winning that game. And then that was our mentality for the rest of the season.” 

The freshman football team was able to pull it together and keep their composure for the remainder of the season. They snagged a final win this season on November 1st against Northglenn. Aside from a couple bumps in the road, the freshman football team excelled this season!

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Dani Tyler

Andrew Smart, Number 2 on the Freshman Football team, said, “We thought that our season was going to be a blowout for every team. It was the 4th game we played against Mountain Vista that was the first one we lost.”. After the amazing start the team had with prior games, winning every game by over 40 points, they got cocky and didn’t face the game as if it was a real “battle”. Andrew then said, “We needed that game to humble us.” They went into the game thinking they were going to win by a lot just like every other game. Coaches Alex Ace, Mike Knox, and Landon Patts, were not very happy about this. They were not taking the game seriously like they should have. Andrew said, “We didn't lose that bad, I think we just lost by a touchdown. We definitely could have won the game.” The team recognized their mistakes and knew they needed to make improvements. They talked about how they can’t go into any more games thinking that they were “going to beat them by 40 points” or that “it's going to be a blowout” and that they need to face it as a battle the whole way through and not get lazy. After the much needed reality check, the team was faced off against Rock Canyon. This was a great opportunity to prove to themselves and to the coaches that they could do better. And they did. Andrew said, “We went into the game thinking that it was going to be a battle, so we played really well and we didn't get cocky. And we ended up winning. That was kinda like our mentality for the rest of the season.”