Football has been a part of Cody Cushing’s life for a long time. He’s been playing since fourth grade when he was 9 years old.

Cushing, a 15-year-old sophomore, says that the JV football team has a strong tight-knit bond together and that everyone is kind of like family.

“We have a very strong close family, it’s a very tight-knit family,” he said. “We have a thing we do with nine core values.”

The JV team has two losses so far on the season. While they are still looking for their first win, they’re working hard.

Andre Gilardi is a 16-year-old junior who is on the varsity football team.

“We’re like brothers. We win together, we lose together and we pick each other back up,” Gilardi said.

Gilardi says the team’s nine core values are: “Attitude, effort, confidence, discipline, family, trust, toughest team wins, doesn’t matter get better, and no blaming complaining or defending.”

With so many people on the team, challenges can sometimes arise.

“We were having trouble working as a team sometimes because we have freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors,” Cushing said. Although Cushing says football is going well so far, he wishes he had more playing time and that he is a little tired with the long days. He says his sophomore year has been going well so far and that he has good grades.

When the season is over, the sport continues in the offseason. Many football athletes like Cushing and Gilardi train by running a lot, biking, lifting weights, cardio and running in preparation for the next season.

Football is a year-round sport and that is why the team is just one big family.