Junior Yeshetila Tafa has watched football almost his entire life, rooting for the Dallas Cowboys since early elementary school. He found them to be his favorite team as his brother Atse Tafa, a former Wootton football player, rooted for the at the time Washington Redskins, the biggest rival of the Cowboys, displaying Tafa’s competitive fire from a young age.
Tafa’s brother wasn’t only the person who inspired him to watch football, but also to play. When Tafa entered high school as a freshman, his brother, a junior at the time, was on varsity. Watching his brother on the gridiron gave Tafa the desire to play himself. The next year, now a sophomore, Tafa made sure that he would join the team, joining JV and going on to start at multiple positions on both offense and defense. This same year, the JV team would go on to upset a major opponent, Georgetown Prep.
With his sophomore year coming to a close, and his junior year on the horizon, Tafa was looking to play at the next level, taking his talents to varsity football. This was a huge step up for Tafa as he was now on the biggest stage of football at the school, with more competition among teams, and more motivation inside every player. “My first impression of the team was how everyone wanted to win so badly, everyone made it their main goal, everyone was so motivated,” Tafa said.
Tafa enjoyed the practices at the varsity level once the season started, initially expecting them to be unenjoyable. His favorite drill was the one-on-one drill between the offensive line and defensive line, Tafa was a defensive lineman himself. “The practices aren’t too bad, because you’re just playing football with a bunch of people you would already be spending a lot of time with in the first place,” Tafa said.
As the first game rolled around against Poolesville, Tafa described the team as ready for battle. Wootton would go on to win by a large margin of 43-0. “The first game was fun, as we got the win with a large margin, I was able to get a better understanding of football at the varsity level,” Tafa said.
By the end of the regular season, the team had a record of 4-5. Throughout the season, Tafa grew as a player and person, working his way into the lineup to earn snaps. He learned lessons that apply to all facets of life. “A lesson the coaches taught me was that there is always room for improvement no matter where you are in your journey,” Tafa said.
The teams’ first playoff game was against Thomas Johnson where they would win 35-21. Tafa’s favorite personal moment of the entire season occurred in this game, where he would come up big in an important game. “My personal favorite moment in a game would be getting a sack in the playoffs against Thomas Johnson,” Tafa said.
The second round, which would win the team the region and take them to states if they won, came against Magruder, who they previously lost to in the regular season. Winning this game with a score of 20-7, Tafa said that this was his favorite memory of the year from an overall perspective. “Winning the region was definitely my favorite moment of the entire season as we put in a lot of time and effort for the win,” Tafa said.
The team’s final game of the season came against Perry Hall in the state quarterfinal where they would lose 39-2. Even though the season ended earlier than the team wanted, Tafa and others on the team look back on the season and are still proud of how far they made it. “I think everyone is happy with how the season went, we took giant steps toward winning a state title in the future,” Tafa said.
