The Gainesville football team opened up their season strong and energetic against Potomac! They are currently 2-0 and the players are noticeably confident and positive going into the rest of their season.

 “Since it is my senior year, my mindset has been to push through this season, give my best effort, and try to show out in front of my coaches so I can get noticed then go to college,” Senior Angel Fonseca said.

 Fonseca’s goal currently is to play football in college at whatever level but ideally division 1.

 “They are just how we were, so we must take care of them and look out for them because they don’t know what they are doing,” Junior Gunner Swanson said, “but we must make sure we are there for them. When they get to our age, we want them to do the same for the younger ones just as we did for them.”

 Building a culture within a team is important and as an upperclassman the goal is to lead by example so that they can do the same after they leave. 

“My goal is to work as hard as I can to earn a starting spot-on varsity as a sophomore,” Sophomore Logan Burnett said. “It is very mentally challenging, but I am pushing through it, and I am currently second string.”

 Despite Logan being a second-string player, he is still working hard and aiming for the starting spot, and he is not letting the title of sophomore get to him.

 “Our team chemistry has overall been good, and we move as one all the time,” Junior Delladem Akpaloo said. “Our coach has a slogan that is ‘it is not iron me it is we,’ so we have been buying into that and dominating in practice to replicate dominating in games.” 

Akpaloo and his teammates are motivated by their coaches’ words which also encourages them to work together.