With the school year starting that means Friday night lights, so let’s recap the start of the season for the BlueJays.

“We focused on the little things because we are so close to being a good team,” said Senior Mark Hensley

On August 26th, the blue jays took a tough 29-28 loss to the Union Wildcats yet Washington came back strong that following Friday, September 2 with a 41-0 win over Warrenton. 

Now, how did this close-to-good team go from a one-point loss to a 41-0 win, what changed in their dynamics during practices that week? Quarterback Junior Casey Olzwaka said 

“ We’ve been working on discipline and following through in our role. Doing our job, what we’re supposed to do, is being done correctly and becoming worried about ourselves.”, “I used to worry about the receivers running the right routes. I’m more concerned about throwing the ball to them thinking of a good pass.”

Not only this week but since last season how has the team grown? “ Everyone has gotten more experienced this year. Last year was almost everybody’s first year on varsity which showed throughout the first few games last season.”, “ But, now that we’re more experienced as a group. The teamwork shined through in the score against good teams like union and in our playing well against Warrenton,” said Hensley.

The team sure did shine through in their matchup against Warrenton. Taking it slow in the first two quarters with 14-0, they came out strong with 27 points after halftime. 

“I think going into halftime, everybody knew that okay, we have to be able to play better than 14-0. And it’s not like we’re just cocky. We mean, there’s a standard and expectation of teams that we play against.” Coming out of the locker room and back on the field, the Blue Jays scored on the first drive with Boston’s 50-yard touchdown. 

“During halftime, when it was only 14-0, our coach said, guys, we are a better team than that, we’re just downplaying them.”, said Senior Trevor Buhr. “ After, that second half we just realized we have to step it up and our coaches definitely put some more energy into us.”