Sacks, tackles and touchdowns are picking up as this year's Warrior football team continues paving their road to success.
After a tough start to the season losing to Ft. Wayne Carroll and Ft. Wayne Snider, the Warriors rebounded in back-to-back weeks. They beat North Central in the homecoming match-up and topped eastside rival Lawrence Central, but they fell short of a win against cross-town rival Ben Davis, starting the season 2-1 in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference for the Warriors.
The players are building many bonds and friendships through both the highs and the lows as they bounce back from bad plays and reflect on good plays.
“The team rebounds well by coming together and having a good hard work week of practice,” junior Keith Jackson said. “We just get closer, talk about what we can do better and get back to fixing what we didn’t do so well.”
This year, the Warriors are focused on a state title, but winning the state title will not be possible if coaches and athletes do not work together well to bring up wins.
“The way players and coaches bond at Warren Central is through success and failure,” junior Donavan Dungy said. “When we mess up on one play then come back the next play and succeed, it just feels so good for players and coaches to see their coaching being positively reflected on the field.”
The football team has seen a positive reflection of coaching. After every bad play or bad drive, coaches call in the offense or defense and review tape to be able to correct mistakes and be more ready for the next drive. Coaches hype up their players after good plays, without being overly confident, and pick them up after bad plays.
“Congratulating each other gives each other motivation,” junior Chazz Corley said. “If we make a big play we go out there and do it again.”
Some coaches may come off as harsh to players, but every coach on the team wants to see the team improve and become a feared opponent.
Part of that team improvement is bonding, which is essential to creating friendships and becoming teammates. Team bonding is ideal for all sports, but it is especially needed for football, with so many athletes on the field at once and many more on the sideline.
Bonding may not be easy for everyone, but the team tries their best to get to know one another on a personal level. Athletes have expressed that they don't just want to be friends and support systems on the field. They want to be there for one another in ways that many other sports cannot even imagine. According to senior Sean Pennington, it’s not so much one activity that they bond over.
“We go out to eat, we hang out and play games like Madden and 2K, we watch college football,” Pennington said. “We talk with each other and are friends. That is enough to bond with each other.”