Struggling throughout the season despite hopes for a better outcome, the football team took a hard hit this year with a 1-9 season. For some, such as the eight Newport seniors, this final run was bittersweet.
The 2023 team only managed to score ninety-six points while letting up three hundred fifty-four, one hundred eighty-six of those during away games.
One thing revolving around the gridiron and the players is the student increase in crowd participation. The student body came together to celebrate the Friday Night Lights, FNL for short, in a designated part of the bleachers directly next to the Buffalo Marching Band.
Sophomore Jordin Briggs, with the help of parents of football players as well as head coach Todd Rothermel, got to organize a “spirit wagon” full of pom-poms and signs for the “the Stampede,” the name that the students adopted for the spirit section, to use.
While the games were not crowd pleasers in themselves, some students stayed standing up the entire game leading the Stampede to be loud and proud with chants such as “Never back down, never what? Never give up!” based on popular audios on social media.
In retrospect, this season looked very similar to last year. “The season wasn’t what everyone hoped for, and the games we played did not showcase our team’s ability to play football. The team consists of many young players that will help the team in upcoming years,” freshman Tai Caudle said.
The Newport community looks forward to a better 2024 fall season and intends to upkeep its energy no matter the score. Notably, Newport’s schedule next year will not include West Perry and instead will feature Midd-West. Newport previously got to see their players and their skills at the 7v7 tournaments the Midd-West Mustangs hosted twice over the summer.
