By A’ser Mostafa
With the new school year comes a new football season. This year’s team faces an unusual challenge not faced by teams before them. This year’s team only has 18 players! An unusually small number of players for a team. This means that the team’s conditioning will have to be in top shape for this season, since the players in the game will likely never get the chance to leave the field.
Starting quarterback Cannon Kartchner put the challenge down to fighting spirit, “This year we have a new coach and almost an entirely different team playing. With the loss of last year’s seniors plus a few unqualified to stand up to the rigors of football, we have only a few returning starters and only a few more that got real playing time on varsity. We also changed to a different schedule with only two of the same opponents as last year. Despite the changes that have been made and our lack of experience, we still have the same fighting spirit that Knights are known for.”
Playing with 18 men also puts some unexpected challenges upon the team, such as high levels of conditioning and learning to play multiple positions, including ones the players may not be familiar with. “Playing 11-man football with 18 people is definitely a challenge that most teams don’t face,” says Kartchner. “Our coach believes that if we are in better shape than our opponents, then we will outlast even the largest teams. That means we run a lot. Also, 18 players means that you can’t become too specialized in one position because you might need to play an entirely different position in an emergency. Each player is expected to know practically every position on the field.”
Above all as a starting quarterback, Kartchner is adjusting to his new position by offering a helping hand to young players and playing the best football he can. “Playing starting quarterback may not be as envious as it at first seems. Everything depends on my performance and my understanding of the defense. Everyone still has to do their job, but if I’m not going 100 percent all the time, no one else’s effort makes a difference. Playing with such a young team gives me an opportunity to teach them as the season goes on. That’s the goal of this season – to learn and gain experience so that we can be successful next year.
“Coming from a completely different position from last year, I didn’t know what I was doing so the first months of being together as a team were pretty rough. However, we have grown closer, developed our skills, and learned how to perform at our potential.”
Sophomore Hayden Sampson echoes Kartchner’s enthusiasm and willingness to put in the effort and work hard. “Our team is a lot younger than last year, and while that does cause some challenges, it makes me excited to see how we grow into the responsibilities. We have great new coaches, and a few of the same ones. I’m really happy to be working with all of them.”
Conditioning is also an important aspect that comes to Sampson’s mind. “With 18 players, the effort has to be 110 percent – a lot more than it used to. Conditioning has to keep us in shape to play full games without any rest, so we have to put in everything to be able to play well.”
The team has had its ups and downs in the season thus far. The Knights lost their home opener 54-12 in a hard-fought loss to St. John’s. The team also had lost four players to injury that game including Kartchner, leaving Sampson to step in for the Knights’ crushing 48-0 bounce back victory over Valley Lutheran.
“Playing quarterback is much more mentally challenging than most of the other positions, so I had to really go over every play. But, in the back of my head, I had to know that not everything was gonna go right. I just had to hope it went better for us than St. John’s. Luckily, it did.”
The team had another hard fought 72-22 loss to North Pointe Prep. While the team has had its fair share of struggles, they’ve proven they can win even with 18 players.
