Varsity football came out hot in the season opener, dominating Ballou High School with a final score of 28-0. The student section was packed, loud, and excited for the Hawks, with head Urbaniac, Sean Pyles, leading the pack of the student section.
There has been a tradition for the Hawks for years, in which 11 seniors are individually selected to lead the student section. These seniors are known as the Urbaniacs.
When reminiscing about his decision to lead the Urbaniacs, Pyles jokingly responded, “I didn’t choose this lifestyle; this lifestyle chose me.”
Pyles, along with other Urbaniacs, choose the student section themes before each game. The game vs. Ballou was a “white out”, where spectators are all heavily encouraged to all wear white.
On the topic of game themes, Pyles quickly named “Ella Strong,” as his favorite. Ella continues to hold a deep significance for the school and community.
Many members of the crowd may see the Urbaniacs in the parking lot around an hour before the game starts. This is because the Urbaniacs, along with the Hawkettes , rally together before the whistle blows.
“We get super hype and paint each other, we sometimes swing flags at the tailgate before the game too,” Pyles said about the Urbaniacs activities.
While on the topic of “getting hyped,” Pyles exclaimed how excited he was for an upcoming game, “Linganore, for sure. We’ve been football rivals with them for years, and I’m excited to see what the Hawks will do to beat them this year.”
On the flip side of Friday night lights, team captain and strong safety for the Hawks, Aidan Himes, discussed the process that the team goes through in order to prepare for games.
“We prepare games mainly on the Monday of the game week, and we’ve been sprinkling bits and pieces in the off season as we knew that Ballou was our week one opponent.”
The Hawks preparation has most definitely paid off; they outmatched Ballou in every aspect of the game Friday night.
When Himes was asked about what he believed was the team’s strongest advantage over Ballou, he reflected thoughtfully and replied, “I think our team is strongest on the lineman side, both defensively and offensively. Our linemen just seem to be a lot better than theirs.”
In response to a question about whether the team was focusing more on running or passing, he answered, “I believe that running the ball will be more successful than throwing the ball in this game, as our running game is more developed than our passing game.”
The Hawks have transitioned to a more “old school football” type of offensive approach. Many wonder if this smash mouth play style (run heavy offense) would prove to be effective for the hawks.
In this game, however, it clearly worked as the Hawks punched through the Ballou defense. They ran the rock over 50 times against the Knights, and ended the game with 228 yards rushing. They also excelled at passing the ball, as they ended the game with 51 passing yards, on four passing attempts.
The Hawks also shined defensively, as they walked out of this game four tackles for loss and one sack. The leaders of these stats? Sophmore Peyton Sipe,who had four total tackles. The other player was Sophmore Grant Altuner, who had 1 sack.
David Sossou makes a swift, athletic cut, skillfully evading the defender(Sarah Jean-Jeacques)
The Hawks evidently played a terrific game with many standout players. However, senior running back and team leader David Sossou believes there is always more room for improvement.
“I feel like we could have done better on offense. We had a lot of missed opportunities to run up the score even more due to missed assignments on the offensive side, me included.” Stated Sossou when reflecting about what could have gone better for the varisty team.
Although Sossou believes there is big room for improvement, he also believes that many things went extremely well , especially on the defensive side of the ball.
The Hawks will be back in action again this Friday at The Nest, where they will face off against TJ High School .With hopes of starting the season 2-0, the team is determined to prepare thoroughly for the upcoming game.
Sossou said the team will prepare for their week two match up by, “Film practice reps, reps, reps, and work a lot to get to that goal and focus on the game plan to get this win.”
All in all, students are ready to see how the Varsity Hawks will compete against upcoming opponents. Go Hawks!
