This year at Paducah Tilghman, our football team has been undefeated for the first time in 20 years. Some of our varsity starters have put in their input on this accomplishment, “Being undefeated is a special experience to have this season. I feel like we have played together as one instead of individual players which has led to us being undefeated and growing as a team, hopefully carrying on for future seasons to come. I think we have really made a name for ourselves this year and I am honored to be a part of it.” (Banks LaFont, Senior). Our team has struggled with the rival team, Mayfield High School, after having a 17-year reign on us, until this year when our boys carried us to a striking score of 35-28 beginning the proper start to our undefeated season. As many student-athletes know, there is a lot of adversity that comes to be faced when playing any competitive sport. The pressure weighs you down, the weather determines a pleasurable practice, and you miss out on the other things you see friends participating in—but the way the challenges are dealt with is what truly determines sportsmanship. No game played goes without an opportunity to learn, our team has definitely used the slower-paced games to work out the kinks in their game to be able to play almost flawlessly. According to Dariante Raggsdale (Senior), “This season we added new players and created a better flow and I love it now.” With some additions to the team, there seems to be some adhesiveness creating a feasible undefeated season. There is also loads of excitement, especially from our seniors, as they finish out their last season, win after win. Many of these hard-working boys have said they have made many cherished memories they will remember forever. With Playoffs starting this week I thought I would ask some of our seniors what their favorite part of the season has been and what they’re most looking forward to. “The best thing that’s happened this season would be beating Mayfield, that game tends to hold a lot of pressure on our team and create so much hype around the school that makes winning so much better.” (Dariante Raggsdale) The win over Mayfield seems to be a reoccurring answer as many of the seniors have said the same, including JoeAvion (Avi) Starks and Banks LaFont. Avi had made some input on how young the team is as well. Most of our starting lineup consists of juniors and sophomores creating the adversity of “getting the younger classmen as involved as one.” Along with their game right now, they’re focusing on ingraining the team fundamentals to the upcoming players. Good luck to our boys for the rest of the season as playoffs start!