AHS football: potential on the field, what is missing?

Rayleigh Peeples and Colson Gray

Anderson High School Football. A sentence that when a lot of Anderson students hear, doesn’t have the most positive connotation. In the last few seasons of football here at Anderson, our team hasn’t been performing in a very satisfactory manner. Many average students here don’t always realize why this is the case. So here at AHS Tribecast, we reached out to try and find some answers.

We spoke to multiple players who played for our team last season, consisting of JV and Varsity players. Many had the same feelings about where our team is lacking, leadership. Houston Edwards, a sophomore and JV and sometimes varsity player, spoke with us saying that he felt like our team has good potential, “Our team is a group of athletes that can win a game.” He said. But he also addressed that he thinks to some degree our team’s issue is leadership, stating this

Javon Warfield, a senior and varsity player on the team had a similar take as well. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, Javon didn’t quit the football team this year, which was a very common statement going around. He believes our team has “potential.” Stating that the coaches could also help,” Push the athletes to their full potential.” Further pushing the narrative of a need for structure, leadership, and discipline.

Lastly, we spoke with Kaiden Mcgonigle, a junior and varsity player. He had lots of constructive criticism and positive comments about the team. He first spoke about how although the team has its issues, they are,” Still a family.” He spoke on the devastating losses of last year’s season, which resulted in a losing streak this season (which you can see visually on the map below). He stated that he believes,” With a new coach it could be different.” and that our team is,” Lacking discipline and toughness.” But he also believes that there have been positive changes already with the team under the new coach and other coaches of this upcoming season.

We did reach out to current and former coaches, but they all refused to speak on the subject. Some out of scheduling issues, or respect for newer coaches.