Although the seniors from last year have graduated and younger players on the team have had to step up, Carlsbad’s varsity football has had an exceptional season so far, leading them to anticipate many wins during the 2024 season.
CHS senior Andrew Langer talks about the expectations he has for this season. He describes how the desire to win plays a large role in motivating the team to work harder and play better.
“I think we’re going to have a pretty successful season,” Langer said. “We have a bunch of younger kids [who] really want to win, a bunch of seniors [who] really want to win, and I think it’s part of the Carlsbad culture to work as hard as we can.”
Members of varsity football have revealed that the Carlsbad football fans can rest assured that the team is working hard and will bring in wins the rest of the season. Having this optimistic mindset is beneficial for the team, but they know that they will still face challenges as the season progresses.
“The loss of the seniors is big, but we have a lot of younger guys that really stepped up,” Langer said. “We knew we were kind of the underdogs coming into this season, and it’s super important to us that we [wouldn’t] let the coaches down.”
Junior Eli Macneal also talks about the game plan for the season and how the team will pull through the rest of the season. The role of offense on the field is significant to the whole of the team. He believes the team will continue getting better as the season continues on, as the team has the motivation, athletic skills and teamwork to progress throughout the season.
“We’re gaining momentum, I think we’re coming together as a team better,” Macneal said. “Offense is clicking, so if we keep on playing well, we’ll be able to win a lot of the games.”
Macneal and other players are aware of the pressure that has been placed on them because of Carlsbad’s past successes. Since the team has consistently reached the semifinals and finals throughout the past decade, this year’s varsity team has placed high expectations on themselves.
“The standard at Carlsbad is winning, so we try to uphold that as much as we can,” Macneal said. “That’s what motivates us [and] keeps us going, [what] makes us work harder.”
Senior Jack Siegel views the graduation of the starting lineup as a rite of passage, and an annual chance for younger team members to prove themselves. The seniors play a large role in the development of the new players.
“The loss of the seniors was key to our success as they passed down what they have learned to us,” Siegel said.
Siegel acknowledges that the first game of this season did not result in the outcome they wanted. However, he believes the game fueled the team even more and they will use the loss as motivation to propel them towards future wins. The loss is not viewed as a setback, rather it is used as encouragement for the team to do better.
“The first loss really made our team more hungry and made our preparation for the next week even greater,” Siegel said. “We all knew that we needed to step up.”
After the results of the first game, the younger players had to step up knowing that the reputation of CHS had been strained. However, Macneal, a younger player himself, knows Carlsbad’s past success makes him want to work harder.
“A lot of younger guys have had to step up, but it’s been good for us and we’re just getting better and better and gaining more reps,” Macneal said. “We definitely had something to prove this year, so that motivated us. But we definitely work hard, we always do.”
Although varsity football has had a successful season so far, they keep the memory of past losses fresh in their minds. Using past seasons as motivation, the team hopes to do even better than they have before and win a championship this year.
“I think the biggest thing for me is remembering previous seasons- losing in the finals in ‘22, and then in ‘23 losing the semi-finals in a really close game,” Langer said. “I think you just look back to those big games and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to be in that situation again,’ so you just gotta keep pushing.”
