Priding themselves on the team’s chemistry and energy, the members of the Andover JV Football have advanced as players and as a team. The team’s record currently stands at 1-3 with two games remaining in the season.
According to Addie[a][b] Allen ’21, the team’s record does not demonstrate the progress each player has made so far and the skills the team possess.
“Record-wise we are 1-3, but I don’t think that accurately represents how the team has been doing. We have come a long way from where we started, and a lot of us are very new to the game, and a lot of the more senior members have taken the role to teach us and help us constantly improve,” said Allen.
Despite differences in experience and age, the team has grown comfortable pushing and challenging each other, according to Jonathan Pelletier ’21 and Teo Spadaccini ’23.
Pelletier said, “We all aim to keep the other members motivated by always giving 110 percent in both practices and games. The team has become a very good, tight group of guys and we all try to push one another to keep going in order to improve.”
“Everybody is really friendly with one another and there is nobody who doesn’t like each other. We all get along and work well as a team to continue improving and pick up wins,” added Spadaccini.
As the season progresses, the team has emphasized the importance of its playbook by solidifying certain plays in order to be able to confidently implement them in games, according to Allen and Trey Wolfe ’23.
Allen said, “Something our coaches have been emphasizing a lot on has been quality over quantity. Play-wise, we could be a team that learned a million different plays, or we could learn a few and get them down pat and [do] them perfectly every time, so that is something we are working towards especially now later in the season.”
“I think the team has been consistently getting better, and we have been focusing on making our playbook very compact instead of having 50 or 60 [plays] to learn. Because of this, it has really been helping the team out in terms of being more efficient on the field and allowed our practices to run more smoothly,” added Wolfe.
The JV team practices alongside the varsity team on a Siberia field. According to Tally Jervis ’22, the proximity of the Varsity players during practice inspires JV players to improve.
“The Varsity team is very enthusiastic and loud when they practice, which is good because we can hear it, and it really just pumps us all up to keep pushing and giving it our all. We also can see the skills that the players have and it inspires us to keep working hard so that we can eventually get there one day,” Jervis said.
The team hopes to secure victories in the last two competitions and conclude the season on a high note, according to Shep Hearle ’22 and Allen.
“We still have two more games going forward, so I hope we will be able to beat Exeter at A/E, and if we are able to get a competitive match against [Pinkerton Academy], since they are a very strong team, I think we will all be pleased,” said Hearle.
Allen added, “I just hope that we can continue to get to know each other as a team, work on our cohesiveness on the field, and get those plays down so we can really use them effectively while adapting to different games. We hope to beat [Phillips Exeter Academy] because they are our rival and it would be great for us all.”
