A new sports season comes with new opportunities: games to win, teams to beat, and, for Fenwick’s varsity football team, titles to defend. On Saturday November 27, 2021, Fenwick’s varsity football team defeated Kankakee, claiming the title of class 5A state champions. The players worked incredibly hard the whole season, wrapping it up on a high note. Has last season’s state win impacted this season’s team at all?
According to Coach Battaglia, varsity football coach, the team’s goals for this year remain the same as they are every year: to win the league, defend Triton’s field, and win state. Though there may be added pressure from fans and fellow Friars, Coach Battaglia says the team still focuses on taking the season day by day and game by game. “The term ‘rebuilding’ is a terrible term,” says Coach Battaglia when commenting on the new wave of players making up this year’s varsity team. “It’s a reloading year. It’s a reloading and learning year, and that’s how we are every year.”
This year is also a learning year and a year of new opportunity for Fenwick’s freshman football team. “We had fifty-five players come out for the freshman [team]. That’s up from fifty-two last year and thirty-one the year before, so there’s a lot of interest,” says Coach O’Keefe, commenting on this year’s group. “There’s a lot of excitement because we have got a lot of the best players from all the different programs in the area.” The freshman football team, though aware of last year’s state championship victory, is focused on its own goals and the task at hand. Currently undefeated, the team hopes to defend themselves going forward, and, along with the sophomore team and varsity, to represent and defend Fenwick High School.

UPDATE: Freshmen Football successfully closed their season with an undefeated record of 8-0-1. Congratulations!