Humid Friday nights spent standing on the bleachers amongst a crowd of students marks the beginning of the high school football season at WS.
Each season brings a unique varsity team that is composed of both new and veteran players who will take the field together.
Senior Peter Muskett is one of these 44 players. After joining WS’ football program as a freshman, he finds himself embarking on his last season playing as a Spartan four years later.
WS’s football team faces different challenges this season. Not only did Muskett start of the season playing with a sprained ankle, but the team is not very big and it has struggled with uniting on the field.
“I don’t think we’re playing to our potential as a team. I think we’re all playing more as individuals,” said Muskett.
Muskett believes that the team’s unity holds the key to unlocking a successful season. He also believes that the recovery and prevention of player injuries could be a game changer for the outcome of the season.
“As long as we can keep our guys healthy as soon as we get the guys who we have injured back into the program and into the team and start working with them again I think we can really turn things around,” said Muskett.
Together the team will have to overcome their obstacles when facing their many different opponents. Some of these opponents will provide more of a challenge for the team than others.
“One [game] I’m looking forward to for it being hard is the Lake Braddock game because that’s our homecoming – Lake Braddock [is] obviously our biggest rival,” said Muskett.
Each game provides the team with another chance to play together and every opponent will test whether they can be easily disbanded. Muskett looks out for his team by being a source of strength in the midsts of games.
“When we’re playing a tough opponent, he’ll bring our confidence up as a team and just knows how to get us to work together,” said senior Michael Giordano.
As a senior on the team, Muskett is both a dedicated player and hardworking leader who sets an example for the rest of his teammates. His commitment to football and his team is obvious to those around him.
“His work ethic is the biggest thing. When younger guys see how much effort he puts into the situation, they want to join in. It’s contagious,” said football coach Jason Eldredge.
In the hours before each game, the team will have a team dinner and different meetings to focus themselves on the game ahead. The majority of the team gets themselves focused through music, but Muskett takes a different approach.
“I like to go off by myself and just kinda think sometimes, I may bring a book or a specific passage from books we read and [I] calm myself down,” said Muskett.
Muskett hopes to continue playing football in college, but until then he still has some time left to wear jersey number seven. In the midst of his last season, Muskett is looking at this final season from the eyes of himself in the distant future.
“When I look back 10, 15, 20 years from now, I want to see a season where my last year I didn’t leave anything on the field; I gave my all and just got together with my brothers and gave it the best effort we could,” said Muskett.