The South football team started their season with four straight victories, but ended that streak with a loss to Maine South on Sept. 27.
With an overall record of 4-1, South’s football team entered their conference play with confidence and high hopes, according to Head Coach Mike Noll.
“Our conference is really talented,” Captain Brett Laurie said. “Week five [was] our first conference game against Maine South. They have had 60 consecutive conference wins, so we [wanted] to break that streak for them.”
Contrary to their hopes, the team fell to Maine South 42-21 Sept. 27.
Of the other games they have played thus far, the team is content with where they stand. The Matea Valley game is one that stands out for Noll and the players as being particularly successful in dominating the offensive end.
“We had three running backs rush for over 100 yards that game,” Noll said. “That’s never happened [at GBS], ever. We needed to run the ball up to get the game under control because our defense was having some trouble in the first half. We were able to do what we needed to do to get the game under control.”
Although the team is pleased with the way many aspects of their game is evolving, they realize that there is work to be done and they cannot be satisfied just yet, according to Laurie.
While there are several juniors contributing this year, the team is fairly senior-dominated with many returning starters from last season, according to Noll.
“It takes good seniors and good senior leadership,” Noll said. “The juniors always start out learning what varsity football really entails, and then they tend to make a lot of progress in the middle of the season. We have a number of juniors who are contributing on both sides of the ball right now.”
Adding to their strong senior class this year is a unique strength of a solid kicking and punting game. Senior Omar Duran is returning for a second year as the team’s kicker, and the punting has been the responsibility of senior Cody Carroll, according to Noll.
While the season is still young, Laurie already has many memorable moments. Laurie, who will finish out his four years of football at South this season, remembers a specific moment from the Metea Valley game.
“We were in the huddle and we weren’t doing too well on offense,” Laurie said. “We were all trying to support each other, and I realized that [it was] awesome to be out there with my best friends.”
As for the rest of the season, their schedule for the next two weeks includes Evanston and New Trier, both competitive opponents, according to Noll.
“Those [two] weeks are going to bring out the best and be very challenging for us,” Noll said. “What I’d like to see, is for us to play our best football in the next [two] weeks and then I’d like to see us peak in November.”
