Opening up the District 5-5A season, football attempted to take down the Independence Knights on Thursday in this year’s Homecoming game, but the Redhawks were conquered 61-7.

“We started off with good energy at the beginning of the game but we needed to keep it up throughout,” junior Connor Hulstein said. “Going into the game we knew we were about to face a tough football team but we were all confident as a team that we could put in the work, do our jobs, and come out on top.”

Positive energy from the crowd set the Redhawks up for the highly anticipated Homecoming weekend, but the game didn’t go as well as the team had hoped, leaving the Redhawks with a losing streak that sits at 15.

“I thought the game had great energy with us and the fans,” senior Corbin Ridlehuber said. “My expectations were for us to come out strong to start district, but we didn’t play well at all and really did not start district play the way we should have.”