The bleachers filled with black and gold. The bright lights shining on the field as the clock ticks down to the final second. The crowd, roaring with excitement, as the football team takes home their sixth win of the season on Oct. 5.

The varsity football team has only one loss (as of this posting) in B conference division as of when this paper went into print.

“I think we have a winning season so far because we work hard at practice and it shows in the games,” junior Isaiah Speller-Martin said.

Every day after school, except for game days, the teams practice from 3:30 to 5:30. JV and varsity warm up together, and then practice separately. Sometimes they practice together depending on what the focus of that practice is.

“Practice is hard, but that’s what it takes to win games,” Speller-Martin said.

Varsity coach Rich Stichel has been coaching the team for five years and has been the head coach for three years. According to Stichel, he has been running the same program and team philosophies ever since he was assigned as head coach.

“Last year we had a good freshmen class come in so now we have a lot of strong returners on varsity,” Stichel said.

Even though the team has been winning, they have just 25 players on each team. “Each year we have a low turnout, but we have a winning season with only 25 players. The JV team beat Gonzaga while being outnumbered 100 to 25 players,” Stichel said.

“The difference between us and other teams is that we are always working hard in the off season,” Speller-Martin said.

According to Stichel, with the season off to a good start, hard work and healthy players are going to bring them to a championship. “There is definitely a possible championship for us as long as we keep working hard, stay focused, and everyone stays healthy.”

“We only have four games left in the regular season and then we have playoffs. If we keep it up, we can definitely win a championship,” Speller-Martin said.

Haley Kyger is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.