In its first game of the 2024 season, Varsity Football defeated Andrew Hill High School 40-0 on Friday, Aug. 29. Despite facing challenges such as an injured player, miscommunication that ended in a four-yard loss and a flag on senior Finnegan Hassy’s touchdown, the team managed to end the first quarter ahead 13-0.
The second quarter continued to show the team’s dominance as the Matadors scored a touchdown and gained additional points from field goals and safeties, leaving the score 23-0 with eight minutes and 37 seconds left on the clock. While senior Emiliano Rodriguez’s field goal fell short, Hassy’s touchdown and the accompanying extra point brought the score to 30-0 by the end of the half.
Senior Siyona Kathuria assisted in running the student section of the crowd, also known as the Bullpen, and helped decorate posters and hang streamers before the game. She believes that although the spectators were energetic, there was still room for improvement from both Leadership and the Bullpen in gathering a bigger crowd and cheering more.
“I think it was fairly good for the first game, but I do expect that in the HoCo game, we’ll have a lot more people that will participate,” Kathuria said. “I think the biggest thing is promoting earlier because we started promoting this game late.”
The halftime performance featured the MV Dance Team who performed to songs including “yes, and?” by Ariana Grande. After the performance, MV Cheer held up a banner in front of the right end zone as the football players ran through, similar to the senior run during the Welcome Back Rally earlier in the day.
In the second half, the Matadors increased their lead from 33-0 to 40-0 during the third quarter when junior Graham Ischo intercepted the ball and made a 68-yard touchdown, followed by an extra point. At the night’s end, students in the Bullpen took pictures together and cheered on the football players as they ran to the right of the bleachers.
According to senior and defensive tackle Aneesh Boddu, the team watched game film during practices before the game to help analyze weaknesses in the opposing team and work on gameplay. However, before Varsity’s game, JV had forfeited to Andrew Hill, ending in a 34-0 loss. Boddu says the team’s forfeit slightly upset the Varsity team in the locker rooms, contributing to their aggressive performance on the field. Despite their success, he says that there are still aspects the team needs to improve on throughout the season.
“It inspired us to just come out here and do the same thing that the other team did to JV,” Boddu said. “I definitely think interceptions were a really good part of this game and our defense did a good job in the first three quarters. Maybe the fourth quarter was a little iffy, but overall, the beginning was amazing. We’re going to fix our mistakes at practice, so pull up next week on Thursday for James Lake because we’re going to beat them again.”
