The Pine Crest Varsity Football Team has played four games, winning all four: beating Saint Andrews (40-6), Ft. Lauderdale High (28-6),  Westminster Academy (17-14), and Coral Shores (Tavernier) (38-7). This huge four game bolt to begin the season will probably come as a surprise to most people. Many students, including those who don’t go to our school, thought that without Traveon Henry, the current, Northwestern running back, there was no way the Panthers could match or even break their disappointing (3-6) record from last year.  I sat down with star running back Trevor Osceola in order to gain more insight on this year’s team.  In Trevor’s opinion, he thinks that the team is, “100 times better than last year, because kids know their role, everybody started at the beginning of summer, the dedication, and the motivation of playing in the conference championship game.”

The result of  the first two games was due in large part to the defense, holding each of their first two opponents to only six points. In the third game, while fought very hard, the deciding factor didn’t come until Harris Stolzenberg kicked a game-winning field goal to put the Panthers up by three with just a few minutes left in the game. As far as Trevor’s success goes, which has been huge in replacing Traveon Henry, he credits both the first and second-string offensive lines. He also credits the team’s success to “all 11 guys on the side of the ball getting it done.” Some of those 11 guys being newcomers to the team including, Austin Litofsky, Clayton Lissy, Ethan Goldman, as well as Kalvin Cline and Lance Crawford, who are also on the basketball team.

One thing that often gets overlooked during the season is practice. Because people only come to the games, they have no idea what the team goes through for preparation. Practice occurs every day of the week as well as Saturday. According to Trevor, another reason for the team’s early success is that in practice, “everyone understands that not everybody is a starter and no one thinks practice is all out. Kids are wiling to play for the scout teams to help the team get better.” Other topics that the team focuses on in practice are the little things, such as proper alignment and knowing assignments. On Saturday, practice consists of lifting weights and watching film. The team watches film with coaches to analyze how they have been playing in order to correct anything that stands out as “no one plays a perfect game.” Another very important factor of the team is the coaching staff, many of which played football at the college and professional level. Trevor went as far as to call them, “one of the best coaching staffs in South Florida.”

No season is complete without goals, both individual and team goals.  Trevor ended our conversation by telling me his individual goals as well as his goals for the team. For the team, “the goal is to play November 17 at FAU stadium, to be the first SE Florida Conference champion, and individually to be the best I can be. Do whatever it takes for the team week in and week out.“ The theme of the team this year is 1 Focus, which can be seen on the back of the team’s shirts. Basically, it means that the team only has one focus, whoever the opponent is for the week. When the Panthers find themselves playing in the conference championship game, it should not come as a surprise, as this is their one focus this season.