In the closing seconds of the Homecoming football game junior Alex Gambrell kicked the game-tying field goal that gave JC the opportunity to win in overtime. Standout plays like these earned Gambrell and five other teammates the title All-Conference players.
“Being selected to the All MIAA Team means a lot and it is a special honor to be selected. It means that you are an elite player in the MIAA conference and it is a tough league to play in and I greatly appreciate being selected,” junior Alex Gambrell said.
Along with Gambrell, seniors Jon Galarraga, Denzel Varner, Raphael Oduok, junior Montell Martin, and sophomore Gus Lane, were named to the All MIAA football team. Senior Luke Navin was an honorable mention.
JC’s 2011-2012 football team was more successful than last year’s team, winning one more game, including the win over Archbishop Curley. Last year’s record was 5-4.
“I was extremely proud of beating Curley knowing that they were the number one seed and undefeated in the conference,” Lane said.
The football team had to deal with a few changes in the makeup of the squad this year. There were only 24 students on the team, forcing some to play multiple positions. The team also had more young players than in previous years.
“We thought we were going to get destroyed because of the size difference, but we really overcame that after the first couple of games. [We] did not realize how good our team really was,” Lane said.
Even though the football team was blown out by Annapolis Area Christian (6-4) in the first round of the playoffs, the team was left
feeling satisfied with the progress they made in the season.
“I feel like our season went pretty well considering the numbers we had. A winning season was a great one,” Gambrell said.
At the end of the fall season, the coaches of the football teams in the MIAA conference choose players from opposing teams that have performed exceptionally well during the season to be on the All-Conference Team.
Miranda Ripken is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.