Looking at their record, The Bees football team has had a tough start to the season, but by looking at the mood amongst the players and coaches one would never know it. The team is led by the captains, Cayden Pluhar, Nate Garito, Riley McPherson, and Evan Rizzo.
Going into this Homecoming game against the star studded team of Wadsworth, a positive and believing attitude has never been more important, especially as they are coming off a tough 55-21 loss to rival North Royalton.
The team’s tough opponents are not reflecting the determination and effort of the team. Defensive back Pluhar says, “We’re going through a lot of adversity like injuries, but we feel good and ready to go.” Wadsworth is the homecoming opponent based on their 4-0 record, and the responses from the team show they aren’t scared. Cayden states, “The whole Wadsworth team is solid, but we’re not worried.”
Junior Nate Henegar, starting quarterback for the Bees says, “They are a good team overall, they play fast.”
The team will have to stay determined, and work hard to have a chance of winning. Nobody understands this more than the Head Coach Jason Black. His focus is to get this team playing with energy and working to be the best they can be. Coach Black says, “[We have to] focus on playing with energy and enthusiasm, doing our assignment to the best of our ability, within the moment we are at.”
Furthermore, the mood amongst the students is positive and excited. They are leading the students and crowd to be excited and ready to build the stadium atmosphere. With student section leaders, Carly Strmac and Luke Sokolowski saying, “The mood for the homecoming game is excitement… This game is typically the game with the biggest student section and highest energy as everyone is so excited for homecoming.”
To beat this Wadsworth team the Bees will need to be at their best in all aspects, including the student section. Coach Black agrees, and says, “… We just have to play better together for longer stretches of time.” They have to be at their best and do whatever they can to compete.
Unfortunately, all this preparation was to no avail as the Bees lost 56-14 against a great Wadsworth team. They could never get anything going early, and could never quite bounce back. However, the Bees look to bounce back against the Stow Bulldogs this week. They will have to keep up this tough and positive mindset going forward to be successful.
