Indians Victory Over the Knights
By Kalli Morris
The boys of fall hit the road and traveled off to Troy equipped with confidence and ready for a battle. Friday night was the first game of the season that temperatures were below the 40s but that didn’t deter Mascoutah’s spirited and dedicated fans from conquering the cold in order to cheer on the football team! Not only was it an away game the Indians were challenged with the fact that it was Triads’ homecoming game but senior Larry Jackson, explained that only motivated them more, “We prepared watching film and focusing on what we could improve on in order to face our opponent. Personally I felt we haven’t been playing up to our potential, but I knew going into the game that we were at an even playing field. I knew if we could follow through until the end of the game we would be victorious.” And Larry was right about that, he scored the last touchdown ensuring a win for the Indians. All who attended saw a show of elite teamwork and determination that pumped up the crowd and the players themselves. The first half was particularly extraordinary ending up a whopping 33-6. Barry Richardson, who was the catalyst of those points described the feeling as uncomparable, “I go out there to do one thing, my job. And when I can successfully execute it I feel happy with the result.” Both Larry and Barry detail how much teamwork is stressed in football, unlike other sports you depend on teammates to do their job in order to have an efficacious outcome. Though the team came out of the gate with amazing energy the Knights put pressure on our defense to ‘hold that line’ Manny Fontenot gave us insight into the critical moment, “Triad has always been a fierce competitor for us and we really wanted to prove ourselves, this game was the determining factor if we moved on to the postseason. When it came down to defense I tried to have a calm composure and read the game to best of my ability.” That they did, with a graceful ease in fact, they ended the game at 39-27. Quarterback Tim Parks puts this game into perspective for us, “I think when we look back at this win, we will realize that this is what gave us the momentum to end the season strong, and boost the team's confidence to face our competitors. But at this point we can't focus too much on what happened last Friday, because we have work to do in order for us to continue to improve ourselves at this point in the season.” The Indians face Bethalto this Friday and Coach Battas emphasized how proud he is of the teams hard work looks forward to the postseason! Go Indians!
