By Staff
It has been a season of ups and downs for area football teams. Northview s strong season is not only unrivaled in this area, but just about everywhere as a Friday night win capped the regular season for the Chiefs who take a 10-0 record into the first round of the Florida State Playoffs Friday night at home.
For Escambia Academy, a bad season start got progressively better as the Cougars made a run for an area title but fell three points shy of advancing into the next round of the playoffs.
For ECHS, it was a grim season. Though there were spectacular plays throughout the season, ECHS was only able to put together one win.
Some of the players in last Friday night's local games will not play football again. Most seniors will go on with their lives, finish high school, go to college or get jobs and move forward.
They will take the lessons they learned on the gridiron with them, we hope. Their coaches taught them to push themselves to the limits of exhaustion, to never give up in a fight and to be part of a team, with each person taking responsibility for a part of the whole.
We hope these lessons will serve them in their future endeavors in the years to come.
While many of them understand that football won't change the world, they also understand that sports is a place where heroes are made. Those heroes are the guys who never give up, who dig down into their souls and guts when they have nothing left to give and come out with something big. Those heroes are the victors who quietly and humbly shake the hands of their foes and the guys who lose gracefully and bear it well.
Football, like other sports, can also unite communities, bring together people of difference races, religions and cultures as they bond together for one beautiful moment as they cheer their teams on.
We thank the coaches, the school officials and most importantly, the athletes for their tireless devotion.
And while we bid farewell to those athletes who gave us so many terrific images of their seasons, we wish NHS good luck as they continue to play.
We also hope our community won't miss the opportunity to see one of the state of Florida's top high school teams on the field Friday night in Walnut Hill as they seek a state championship.
Heroes will be made Friday night again, just as they have been made each Friday night for 11 weeks.
Don't miss it.
GO CHIEFS!