President Woodrow Wilson once said, “The difference between a strong man and weak one is that the former does not give up after a defeat.” The eighth grade football team lived by this quote all season.  Even though the season ended with a 1-7 record; the team did not give up during the hardest points of the season. With the starting quarterback Donovan Kelson getting injured and other unfortunate events transpiring, the team still persevered through the tough times. The support they have for each other catapulted them through the season. Even though the team had their differences and were frustrated during the course of the season, they knew that they had to support each other even at their toughest times.
The players who showed the most leadership and had support of all players and worked hard on and off the field were the captains. The eighth grade NMS football team captains were Anthony Georgalas,

Donovan Kelson, Antonio DeFrank, Steven Thomas and Brennen Hodge. Captains are to make sure everyone on the team is practicing and playing to their fullest potential. Thus being a captain is a very important job. The team works very hard and it all pays off when they win. They feel accomplished and proud when they achieve their goal of winning. The biggest win of the season was the Niles vs Howland. This was early on in the season and everyone was healthy and no injuries occurred.  The team was feeling so many great emotions when they beat their biggest rivals. Eighth grader Brennen Hodge said, “We are a team in the making.” This quote proves that even though they are young, it’s the eighth grade year where you learn teamwork, skill and just the game itself. Their goal was not necessarily to have a year to be number one, but more importantly to work together as a cohesive and successful team.

Since injures were pretty prevalent during the season, we thought we would interview Shane Tomlin who was diagnosed with a concussion mid season. He provides great insights to our team and future of Niles Football. We would like to thank Shane for giving up his time.