The varsity football team pulled through the game against LBJ with a 52-35 score, demonstrating dominance and the effort it takes to play tougher opponents.

“It’s not just about you making the play. It’s about you doing your job,” head football coach Galen Zimmerman said. “Once we get used to the speed of the game, we play well as a unit.”

The offense won with 52 points, which is a season high, improving the team to a 5-1 overall record and 3-0 in district.

“We are practicing for our best, and, hopefully, the game will take care of itself,” Zimmerman said. “You acknowledge how they are good but focus specifically on what you need to do.”

The team will next face a struggling Lanier team for Homecoming Friday. The players, according to Zimmerman, continue to work to improve their personal challenges and then address the difficulties the opposing team may throw at them.

“We got to practice to win,” Zimmerman said. “It’s not just any one thing we can do. It’s just the continuation on the path we’ve been on, and from week one to now has been an upward trajectory with our entire team.”

Instead of straying from their foundation, the varsity football team continues to work hard on what they have been learning from day one of preseason.

“Motivation for one person may not work for another. It’s an individual,” Zimmerman said. “It depends on the situation and the player.”

It is more common to become unmotivated for a game the team may be expected to win easily, and the coaches must read and adjust to the situation and the player by finding what gets them going.

“One of my favorite quotes is by Lou Holtz,” Zimmerman said, “where he talks about when you want to be a championship program or entity – the first thing you do is learn how to compete. When you’ve successfully learned how to compete, then you got to learn how to win, then you got to learn how to handle winning, and then you’re ready to win championships, and that’s athletics. That’s business. That’s anything.”

Written by Evelyn Peterson, Staff Writer