On Sept. 6, the Logansport Berries varsity football team suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Lafayette Central Catholic High School. Even after the team’s grueling practices, hours of studying film, and tons of time in the weight room, they came close to defeating their opponent with the final score of 23-21, with Lafayette Central prevailing.
After this defeat, the team plans to exert over twice the amount of pressure, effort, and willpower to guarantee a win over their next opponents, win the Homecoming game, and hopefully win a state championship.
“I’m just mad,” senior Chrisanthony Del Valle said. “I’m feeling lots of emotions. I think we definitely have more. We made a couple of big mistakes that really hurt us. There were new plays that this team came up with, something we had never seen before, and they just happened to capitalize on something we’d never seen before. If we just fix those big errors, it’s a different ball game where we win.”
The Berries are made up of resilient people who, even after a defeat, think about the future and how to improve to make sure they never have to have this same taste ever again.
“It was a battle to the fourth quarter,” senior Deagan Kitchel said. “We made a few mistakes which cost us, but we did a lot of great things. Now, we got some fire in us. Benton Central is next week. We’re gonna run the ball hard, make some pass plays. We’re gonna pound them and have a big win. Let’s go 36-0.”
The Berries are ranked lower than Lafayette Central Catholic High, yet they’re able to hold their own against a tough opponent. Even their opponents understood that they were not going down without a fight.
“It was a great contest, very competitive, obviously, I mean 23-21,” Lafayette Central Catholic High Football Hed Coach Bryan Nay said. “It was exciting up until the very last second, so hats off to Logansport. They’re a very well-coached team. I got a lot of respect for coach Johnson. He’s a hall-of-fame coach, and we were just fortunate enough to come on top. I love Logansport’s style of play as it’s physical downhill football. I think they’re gonna be a good squad, and they’re suiting up for a really good season.”
If someone asked a player or coach on the Berries team, there would be fire in their eyes and victory in their minds.
“When you play good teams, you get better, so this was a good learning experience for us,” senior Tate Strong said.
The team may have lost, but they only plan to get 100% better to get their revenge the next time they face any team that beat them.
“It’s always tough to lose games like that, but I know we’re a team that can persevere and find a way to come back next week to play hard,” defensive coordinator Troy Hudsund said. “We have a good football team with a lot of kids who care.”
On top of the team, the fan recognition is phenomenal. Coaches even said communication got difficult because of how loud the fans were, giving them much appreciation for the support.
“I think our boys were definitely giving it their all,” junior Belkis Perez said. “I noticed our boys were very tired. I felt like our student section was trying our best to hype them up. I feel like we did a good job.”
