By Michael Natelli ‘14

A new quarterback and a new head coach. Just one of those two changes would be enough to make a team nervous heading into the season, but the Sherwood Warriors found themselves with both. Fortunately, they had been accustomed to the latter of the two from recent experiences. The departure of Coach Mike Bonavia last offseason marked the third time the senior class has experienced a coaching change in their time on the team.

“Not very many people go through three, really four, different coaching staffs in four years and still come out with a winning record every year,” said senior center Dean Emerson. But the Warriors did just that, and finished this season with an impressive 7-3 record.

“We knew our team would face adversity from the start, so we worked that much harder in the offseason and throughout the season,” said senior safety Michael Windsor.

The results paid off, as the Warriors made the playoffs. However, they were paired up with the Paint Branch Panthers (10-1), a team that had beaten them by a score of 55-21 just two weeks prior.

The Warriors ultimately suffered another tough loss to the Panthers, this time by a score of 42-7. Paint Branch senior quarterback Gaston Cooper threw for 317 yards and five touchdowns, while the Panthers also had an additional 88 yards on the ground.

“When you play a team like Paint Branch with a high scoring, powerful offense, you need to control the ball as much as possible,” said Emerson. “Take a lot of time off the clock on your offensive drives, and keep the ball out of their hands as much as possible, especially when you’re going against players like Gaston Cooper.” Paint Branch picked up 19 total first downs in the game, denying the Warriors any chance at establishing momentum on offense. The time-of-possession differential showed up on the scoreboard, as the Warriors were outscored by five touchdowns.

An exciting season to say the least; unfortunately, the saying still proved true: ‘All good things must come to an end.’ But nonetheless, the Warriors certainly proved their critics wrong, as no one could have expected the caliber of play that the team put together under such unusual circumstances. “This season as a whole was a building block for the future of the program,” said Windsor. But with so many seniors set to depart before 2014, there will be several new faces when the Warriors take the field for the first time at the start of next school year. Fans will see if they can once again work through significant change and make another playoff run.