After a journey to Lucas Texas, the Redhawks football team came back empty-handed after falling 76-0 to the Leopards.
“It was tough to watch and to play,” junior Tanay Karapurkar said. “Obviously, we had hoped for a better result but Lovejoy is a very strong team and a big one. We had so many of our guys out due to injury.”
Already a squad low in numbers, losing players to injury affected Friday’s game according to head coach Matt Swinnea.
“It had a significant effect,” Swinnea said. “Football is a numbers game and there is an inherent advantage to those teams who have good numbers. Almost all our guys play offense, defense, and special teams, while most of our opponents, like Lovejoy, have players that only play one side of the ball. When you have injuries, and we ended up losing five players during the course of the game, it exacerbates the situation exponentially. I think we finished the game with 19 available players. Lovejoy probably had 60. “
Despite the result, Swinnea is proud of his boys and all that they do.
“I’m really proud of our team for being willing to practice, compete, and represent their school on the football field when so few are willing to do so,” Swinnea said. “Football is a really tough sport. Much of it is not “fun”. But these guys show up every day, willing to do hard things, regardless of their critics.”