Football Season in Review

By: Emma Jennings

Hamilton’s Varsity Football team ended their tough season with a losing record of one win and eight losses.  Their final game was against Holland Christian at home on October 23, where they lost with a score of 48 to 7.  All seniors played in the final game being able to end their Hamilton football careers playing in the game.  Chad Miller, the boys coach, said, “we will certainly miss the leadership of many of those guys (seniors).”

No one likes the talk or think about difficult losses during a season but the team’s worst loss would have to be against Byron Center with a score of 14 to 54.  Coach Miller believes that the team was simply not ready to play when that game started.  The boys gave up multiple touchdowns to Byron Center in only the first four minutes and could not match their opponent’s intensity throughout the entire game.

The team’s best win of the season was clearly their only win against Middleville with a score of 34 to 28.  Hamilton and Middleville went back and forth between the entire game and the boys all fought their hardest to stay on top.  In the third quarter Middleville was ahead by two touchdowns, but the team pushed until they made their way back up.  Hamilton beat a Middleville team which they hadn’t beaten in two years.  It was a tough game but the boys accomplished their win by fighting and believing.

Hamilton senior, Steven Redder, gave his view on how the team’s season went, “I felt that the season didn’t go as we had hoped.  I feel as if we let not only each other down, but also a community that expects and deserves better.”

Coach Miller is pushing next year’s returning players to already get moving on offseason workouts to change the reputation gained after this season.  The team is believed to grow and develop and become a faster and stronger team next year.  He said,

“I think we have a lot of returning weapons.  Seth Buresh was one of our best offensive linemen, Keaton Mudd, at quarterback, got better and better as the season went on, and our receiving core – led by Kaleb Moore, Sawyer McMahon, was pretty dangerous, already.  Defensively, Seth Buresh and Tyler Geurink were our inside linebackers and both were strong players all year.  If Brady and Tyler Eding continue to develop like they have in the past year, I think teams are going to find it very difficult to run against us.”

The Hawkeyes are not proud of their tough season this year but next year’s returning players are wanting and willing to work harder to become a better team.