McHenry’s varsity football team is off to a great start after winning their first two games against Dundee-Crown and Crystal Lake South, bringing the school spirit up at MCHS.
Last year, McHenry went 2-7, ranking them seventh in the conference. However, the script was flipped this year, as Jeffry Schwab has been leading the charge of McHenry’s resurgence in the Fox Valley Conference. In last Friday’s game versus the Crystal Lake South Gators, Schwab completed 8-of-13 passes with a touchdown, which was a 68 yard pass to Hayden Schmidt.
The team defeated Dundee-Crown 17-14 on August 29 and Crystal Lake South 43-7 on Sep. 5.
“I feel like our mindsets are a lot better from last year,” junior and outside linebacker Lucas Decker says. “We didn’t feel like we had any chance … with three coaches in the past three years, it’s been rough.”
“This brand new coach, he’s made our mentality a lot better,” Decker adds. “I feel like we’ve grown together as a team, and we play for each other now, not just for ourselves.”
Decker explains his hope for this season, and that his biggest motivator is the seniors, saying that they deserve these wins for their hard work.
“I feel like the first step to achieving something is believing in it,” head coach Colt Nero says, “And I felt like we believed we were the better team, and so we went out, and I think we proved that these first two weeks.”
Nero says, “For them to be able to walk around the halls these past two weeks, and feel proud about what they’ve done, and how far they’ve come, but also not feel satisfied with where they’re at, is really important.”
With it being his first year as the head football coach, Nero explains how he is proud of the players for adapting to new coaches almost every year. He also talks about how school spirit has been impacted by the high-energy the season has brought so far.
“The start to the season definitely enhanced our student body a ton,” senior Adam Anwar says. “It just made people more connected … and in a way, it just brought everyone together.”
“I remember freshman year,” Anwar says, “when the guys were losing pretty bad, and I saw them every day working in the gym. They’ve always promised that this is our year, when we were freshmen, they were always saying, ‘senior year we’re gonna be really special’, and now we’re here, and they’ve been balling out the past couple of games.”
Students reminisce on all of the ups and downs of our football team, and with that, hope the high energy remains for the rest of this season.
The wins this season brings up the school spirit and hope for this season. McHenry an away game plays Cary-Grove on Friday night.
