The Zebras got off to a great start against the Catoosa Indians in week one of the season. The 7th, 8th, and 9th-grade teams showed up and played hard, executed well, and left it all on the field. It started with a short weather delay, but once the game kicked off the 7th-grade team never looked back. They jumped out to an early lead, scoring 3 unanswered touchdowns, which lead them to victory to start the Zebra football season. The 8th grade took the field next, they came up a little short, but that was not because of a lack of effort. The Zebras on defense were flying all over the field, making plays and shutting down the Indian offense. At the halfway point the score was 0-0, a great defensive struggle. Early in the second half, the Indians were able to put a few points on the board, and ended up getting a close victory against the much improved 8th-grade team. We are excited about the future of these boys. After the game, the coaches got together and gave out a player of the week awards to one 7th-grader and one 8th-grader. The Zebra Nation wants to congratulate Miguel Hernandez and Graham Williams for being named player of the week.
The night belonged to the freshman team, ending the night with a 26-13 win against the Catoosa Indians. That does not seem like a big deal, but to these kids it was. This group has stayed together and has fought through more adversity than most people ever go through in a sport. This group had not won a game in junior high up to this point. That is not a negative about this team, it is just what the results have been for this young group. With that being said they are different this season. It would have been easy for all of these boys to quit, and decided not to play football anymore, but that is not in their DNA. They stuck it out, continued to work this summer, and finally got to feel what winning in a Zebra jersey was like. They earned it, not the coaches, not as individuals, but as a group that just decided they didn’t want to lose another game. What a night and congratulations to these young men.