“Legendary.” In a single word, senior Marcelo Carrasquillo described the fall 2023 varsity football season. The Generals’ 9-1 record marked their best regular season record in 25 years. Among their most notable accomplishments was their first triumph against Yorktown since the fall of 2016. Following a nearly undefeated season, the Generals were awarded the District Championship in football – an accolade they have not received since 2013. Statistically, the 2023 season’s win rate of 0.80% yielded a 400% increase from the 2021 season. Many in the school community may raise the question as to how such dramatic improvement occurred.
Senior Sebastian Giesecke, team captain and offensive tackle considers the impact of physical preparation that extended beyond in-season practices.
“I think the strengths that contributed to the team this season were our off-season work ethic and our in-season work ethic. We just never took our foot off the gas and we were always trying our hardest, trying to be better,” Giesecke said.
Off-season conditioning was essential for the team’s success.
“Everybody was in the weight room all the time. We didn’t stop lifting. We were always grinding. [It] helped the team as a whole,” Giesecke said.
Senior punter and kicker Marcelo Carrasquillo echoed this sentiment.
“Before, there were only a couple of people that [were] in the 1000 pound club. After last season, I think there were over 15 people in the 1000-pound Club, which was amazing. So, we had a lot of guys that were working, and over the summer, guys [who] would go out on their own [and] just work on their craft. So, I think that definitely contributed to our success for the season,”Carrasquillo said.
The team’s mental preparation also played a significant role in their success.
“Before the season even started, on Twitter, we were projected to go five and five, and we took that as an insult. So, we used that as fuel to really work hard during the season and show other teams that we’re not to be messed with this year, ” Carrasquillo said.
The team carried this attitude with them throughout the season. Referencing the Yorktown game, in which the Generals won 28-18.
“We were confident that we could beat this team. Going into halftime, we were losing, and one of my teammates, Anthony Louis, gave us a during-game speech. He [said] it didn’t matter what the score was as long as we played our hardest. He really got us hyped, and I think, going into the second half, we had that mentality that he wanted us to have. I think that definitely helped us in the end,” Carrasquillo said.
Though the Generals emerged victorious from their game against Yorktown, their subsequent loss to Herndon threatened to diminish their spirits.
“We didn’t want to lose; we wanted to do something that teams haven’t done in a while. It’s shocking at first, but we have this thing called the 24-hour rule: whatever happened is going to set in for that day, and then after that, you just kind of forget about it, and keep moving forward,” Carrasquillo said.
Instead, failure appeared to fuel the team’s determination.
“I think a lot of people take it head on, and we like to solve the problem or do better next time” senior linebacker, William Clarke said.
The players’ individual preparation and in-season work ethic were coupled with vital strategic elements to guarantee their victories. Josh Shapiro, 10th grade Health and P.E. teacher and head coach of the varsity football team, discussed his targeted coaching technique.
“I’m not always linear. I don’t have a system. I’m more: this is what we need to focus on and I’m going to attack this, which might ruffle some feathers. I might get after some people, and the team’s like, wait, that’s our captain– doesn’t matter–if I don’t like what I’m seeing, I’m going to address it,” Shapiro said.
Just as Shapiro targets players’ weaknesses for improvement, he emphasizes the players’ strengths to develop their competitive strategy.
“I’ll change what we do offensively and defensively based on our skill level. Our strengths this year were what we call spread, which is [when] we line up with four receivers, sometimes five, and really just throw the ball. In the past, if we have kids that are better at running the ball, we’ll just run it. So, I’ll always shift. I’m not married to a certain offensive philosophy or defensive philosophy. I think whatever fits our team that year we run,” said Shapiro.
The addition of several new position-specific coaches worked to enhance the players’ skills.
“We had a couple coaches last year but not as many as we did this year. So, we got a new wide receivers guy that isn’t also the offensive coordinator. Now, we have a sole receivers coach and a sole linebackers coach,” Giesecke said.
Shapiro noted that a greater depth of skill aided the team.
“We had talent in key positions, and that talent was so good that it covered some deficiencies,” Shapiro said.
A similarly targeted approach was taken when preparing for the Yorktown game.
“They [Yorktown] ran a very specific offense that wasn’t like a lot of others. So there was a lot of defensive prep for that. But really, for all the games, we would have our coaches scout the other offensive, see what they would do. And then we’d walk through that in practice. And then we’re familiar with what plays they run. So then when we see that again, we know how to stop it,” Clarke said.
Another influential component was the game schedule. Every two years, the region changes the game schedule based on the team’s performance in the previous two seasons.
“We’ve had some ridiculously competitive opponents that we don’t really need to be playing against that we get scheduled against. We’ve had some ugly, in my opinion, not favorable matchups, whereas this year, we had a much more manageable conference schedule,” Shapiro said.
Though the schedule placed W-L on more even footing with their rivals, Shapiro stressed that they “were still good in conference; we won our conference, so we were a good team.”
With this season’s accomplishments in mind, Shapiro hopes to further the team’s success in the 2024 season.
“So our goal [this season] was to win the conference, which we did; win the county, which we did, because we beat both our rivals; make the playoffs, which we did, and compete in every game. And we did more than compete; we dominated quite a few teams. So next year, it’ll be to host the playoff game and win a playoff game. We’re going to up it,” said Shapiro.
While “legendary” may have described the fall 2023 season, the team’s wins did not define the football team for Shapiro, Clarke, Carrasquillo, or Giesecke.
Shapiro said, “Enjoy the game. Enjoy the camaraderie.” To Clarke and Carrasquillo, it meant “family.” And to Giesecke, it was “brotherhood.”
