The Nanuet High School Golden Knights Varsity Football team is at the end of another season. The team has achieved three wins and five hard-fought losses. Despite any setbacks, the players were very enthusiastic and hopeful all season long, keeping their heads high and prepared to tackle all challenges!
To get the team “prepared for the new season,” the team heads up to Camp Lokanda. Here, beyond the game, the athletes “build trust and begin to lean on each other,” according to senior Luke Joyce.
Playing Defensive and Right tackle, wearing number seventy-two, Joyce gracefully ended his high school football career. Walking into his senior season, Joyce was faced with doubt from many peers, but on the field, he and his team were “proving them wrong.”
Joyce believed that if he had won in his mind, he’d have already won on the field, so he manifested “not even losing another game for the rest of the season,” he said.
Even with teams like Ardsley who they “were supposed to get blown out by,” they kept up with “a final score of 21-20,” says Joyce. Pelham was destroyed with a score of 26-7 and Sleepy [Hollow] had to wake up when they were beaten [21-7]. The boys did not back down and became real athletes this season.
This season was a very touching one, leaving many players emotional on and off the field. The long-held tradition of the Brown Jug Game held with Pearl River high school “was the most emotional loss,” according to junior Stephen D’Adamo, who plays left guard and outside linebacker.
With such a close score of 20-18, defeat somehow felt even stronger. For many, football became more than a game and some even had their own pre game rituals.
Each individual on the team made the game their own before stepping out there to play. Making the game personal went from maybe saying a prayer to “listening to mixtapes on TikTok to Jersey club music,” according to senior Blake Flowers. Speaking for the team, Joyce and all the players had learned to “go hard every time because they only get one shot.”
Closing out the season the team played Pleasantville and lost with a score of 33-7. Undoubtedly, they recognized their mistakes and brought it to Rye Neck as they defeated them 26-0! Unfortunately, the season ended with two straight losses from Byram Hills [28-21] and Westlake [38-0].
No matter what the scores were, the boys never lost the “dedication, discipline, tradition, emotion and trust” they had built from the season, adds Senior Alan Thomas.
It becomes more than a sport when “being on the field makes you feel more than yourself,” says Thomas.
This program has established an unforgettable support system for all the Seniors as they pass that down to the next generations. Nanuet Football put up a good fight and it has only just begun.