Wakeland High School’s Varsity Football team has advanced to the Playoffs. 

The Wolverines played against Woodrow Wilson High School’s Wildcats this past weekend, beating them with a score of 38-7.

“Beating Woodrow Wilson was awesome! It felt so good to win a playoff game, and get a gold ball, and everything. Especially considering it was a historic win for Wakeland, it was a really awesome game to be a part of,” varsity player junior Ty Gleason said. 

The game against Woodrow Wilson started out slow, but eventually began to pick up.

“We started out a little slow with the run game on offense, but as we passed more, it opened up the running game and let Jared [White] do his thing. The defense balled out like they always do and the O-Line stepped up to create some key holes for Jared to run through. All in all, it was a great game and we’re looking forward to repeating that on Friday,” varsity player sophomore quarterback Brennan Myer said

“The game was pretty fun, we had most of the momentum that whole game, and I feel like we were all just playing like normal,” varsity player senior Cade Myer said. 

The Wakeland Football team has prepared for their first playoff game just like any other, this time bringing their A-game.

“In order to prepare for the Playoffs, we have watched more film, practiced, lifted, and conditioned in order to stay at the level of the other teams we play. [This is] because we know that the deeper we go [into] Playoffs, the better the teams get, and the better we have to play as a team,” B. Myer said.

The team also spent time over the summer preparing for Playoffs. 

“We have been preparing since the summer. Consistency is super important so we’ve been practicing and lifting with the same routine throughout the season and into the Playoffs. We’ve gotten better and better throughout the season. At this point, we’re just taking it week by week, making sure we are as prepared for each game as we can,” Gleason said. 

Not only has the team worked hard on the field, they’ve also spent time bonding off the field as well. 

“Over the season we really have become close and do a lot outside of school, hang out with each other, and are just a lot more passionate about the season and team than years before. Being on varsity for 3 years, I’ve seen teams that are selfish and don’t love each other which tears it apart. This team isn’t that way,” C. Myer said. 

Through team dinners and practicing on the field, the team has formed a strong bond. 

“We have team dinners before games and we’ve put in a lot of work together. Winning and even losing has brought us closer together,” Gleason said. 

However, with success comes struggle! Nonetheless, our Wolverines pushed through uncertainty and came out victorious.

“Some struggles throughout the season are just injuries like any other team. We have a next man up policy here and everyone is expected to know what to do and to perform at a high caliber if someone goes down so that’s why it hasn’t affected our record that much. We also lost a game at the beginning of the year due to COVID so a lot of players on the team including myself were worried that we would lose more games but thankfully that wasn’t the case. And finally we just overcame those struggles by really bonding and preparing like a team. We know that we are a good team and as long as we stay disciplined and motivated we should be able to do some great things,” varsity player senior Alex Shirley said.

Despite the challenges the Wolverines have faced, they’ve been able to accomplish their goal of advancing to the Playoffs. 

The Wolverines will be playing against Highland Park High School this Fri. at 7 p.m. at the Eagle Stadium in Allen, Tx.