The football team has started off their season with a record of 3-2. Head coach Mike Noll attributes some of the early losses to playing a different and more difficult schedule than in years past. Noll hopes that playing a more difficult schedule will help the team in the long run.

“We played a much more difficult schedule this year than we played last year,” Noll said. “It can be good and bad, depending on how the team reacts to it.”

The Titans opened their season with a  23-50 loss to Barrington, a team that is ranked top 10 in the state, according to Noll. Their second loss was 34-55 against St. Patrick.

“[Barrington] was a very hard game physically, but [when] you come out playing someone like that, hopefully you learn what your weaknesses are and you can move forward,” Noll said. “St. Pat’s team was really scrappy and they caught us at the right time [to beat us].”

Noll said that the beginning of the season was concerning, but the team has gotten better which has been shown with wins against Highland Park (33-14) and Maine West (40-6). Noll said the team has been focusing on tackling better, and perimeter defense and offense in practice to help them in games.

“[I see improvement] all the time, every day and I see kids continue to try hard and work hard to get better and that is very important to me,” Noll said. “You can only be as good as your talent allows, but you can work hard every day and you can have a positive attitude every day and mostly I see that.”

According to Jack Healy, senior wide receiver, the team has stepped it up when playing against easier competition such as Highland Park and Maine West.

The Maine West game on Sept 18. did not start until 10 p.m. due to a rain delay.

“It was weird because I didn’t think we were actually going to play because it had been storming the whole time, but the coaches told us to start stretching and I didn’t even think they were being serious,” Healy said. “Then once we got out there it was weird bcause it was so late and there was no one there, but it was just like any other football game.”

The Titans won against Niles West on Sept. 25. According to Mario Ramirez, senior offensive lineman, this game was better than previous games because there were less offensive mistakes which allowed them to score more.

“Offensively, we almost scored on basically every possession we had,” Ramirez said. “Defensively, we got the stops we needed so it was a good win all around.”

In the Niles West game, the Titans were winning at halftime 35-27, and then won the game 56-34. Senior Captain Ryan Janczak scored four touchdowns, senior fullback Calvin Salier scored two and both Healy and senior Captain Owen Boyle scored one a piece.

According to Noll, Healy and Janczak, this year’s team is more united than last year’s team. Noll also says that they listen and do what the coaches say better than previous years.

  “There is more [of] a sense of family on this team than there ever was last year,” Janczak said. “Everyone has the same goal, so people that are on the sidelines that aren’t playing, they are still into the game and they cheer us on to help us out.”

The Titans square off against Maine South, a highly ranked team, at Maine South on Oct. 2. According to Ramirez and Janczak, this year’s team is confident that they can be the team to beat Maine South.

“We are going to be prepared to win,” Ramirez said. “I think everyone is going to leave it all out there. This game is important to all 60 of us so we know what it means to win, and I think we have the team to finally win this year.”