The Patriots started off their season strong with a home-opener win over the Poolesville Falcons on Sept. 2, demonstrating an accomplishing score of 24-0. Soon after, the Patriots took the nail-biting win over the Rockville Rams. After being down at halftime, senior quarterback Matthew Repie threw two touchdowns to lead the Patriots to victory 17-14. Senior Kicker Sachin Bijlani is in his first year playing football but has yet to miss a field goal. Bijlani has helped score a total of six points in the past two games.
On Sept. 8, Friday night lights turned into Saturday morning sunrise. The Rockville vs. Wootton football game got rescheduled to the following Saturday morning due to severe thunderstorms. Though the number of student supporters was smaller, there were still fans who made the morning drive to support the team. Senior grill master Holden O’Brien attended to cheer the team on. “It’s inspiring to see the boys adapt and adjust to unexpected circumstances and still prevail,” O’Brien said.
The Patriots were off to a rough start, going down 7-3 early, and then Rockville extended their lead with a 40-yard touchdown to make it 14-3. Coach Ivan Hicks must have given a great halftime speech because the Patriots came out firing in the second half. Repie continuously completed passes down the field and eventually hit senior receiver Chase Williams for a long touchdown to make the score 14-9. Another offensive drive led to the game-winning touchdown, caught by senior captain Jacob Kelley with a two-point conversion to make it 17-14.
Thursday, Sept. 14, the Patriots played a rivalry game against the Churchill Bulldogs. Both teams came out hoping to win but the Bulldogs wanted it more, ending the game with a shutout, making the Patriots 2-1 with the 30-0 loss.
Football practices are a necessity to perform well in games. “Practices consist of conditioning, fundamentals, technique work, and hard work. With these aspects, great results have been rolling into games. If we keep up this tempo, I have no doubt we’ll be going far this season,” Hicks said.
Senior running back Mathew Cortes displays his pride in the team despite an injury keeping him from the field. “Although I cannot be out there, I admire everyone’s hard work in practice every day and it inspires me to work harder and harder at my recovery process. During the Rockville game I made sure to make as much of an impact as possible by encouraging and supporting my teammates throughout the whole game,” Cortes said.
The JV football team is starting the season with a 2-0 record. The wins are from beating the Poolesville Falcons, and the Rockville Rams. With an overtime win of 46-40 against Georgetown Prep during the preseason, the JV team is posing high expectations for the future of Wootton football.
