With a new coach, a new season, and new expectations, WS football begins the year with a fresh start. Primarily focusing on the transition from the former football coach, Jason Eldredge, to current coach Anthony Parker, the team is taking steps in the right direction.

Starting the season off strong with wins against Forest Park, Lee and T.C. Williams, football’s new additions have already started to show how they’ve changed this season to perform better. A primary aspect of this is Coach Parker, and his additions to create a new team dynamic on and off the field.

“The team feels like we have a fresh start. We were 5-5 the past two years but Coach Parker makes it feel like a breath of fresh air and we feel like we can achieve a lot more this year with him as a head coach,” said starting quarterback Tony Muskett.

Along with a more positive aura surrounding the team, the coaching staff have also made a few changes concerning play calling on the field.

“[Both] offense and defense are mostly the same but the coordinators have made the play calling more advanced than last year, so we are able to run more plays than we used to,” said junior John Neumeyer.

Another crucial aspect of football’s performance is practice, and how the team prepares for each game.

“The team is getting more positive feedback from Coach Parker,[and] he is great at recognizing the things we do right [in practice],” Neumeyer.

Along with recognition, Coach Parker and the rest of the coaching staff have also expanded upon the player’s abilities on and off the field by giving them more leadership.

“[Coach Parker] has given more responsibilities to the players, specifically the seniors, in terms of decisions for the team and getting things done,” said Muskett.

This has also proven to be effective due to how smoothly the team has operated this year compared to previous seasons.

“There’s less conditioning which is nice, and the practices feel more productive [from how] the coaches are on top of the schedule, and in practice we move from period to period on time,” said Neumeyer.

Following their wins in the first three weeks against the Forest Park Bruins, Lee Lancers and T.C. Williams, football will face South Lakes, Justice, South County, Woodson, Lake Braddock, and finally Robinson to finish out the season.