Blake Football's JV Goes Undefeated

- The team celebrating after beating rival Paint Branch and going undefeated (Photo Courtesy of Blake athletics)

The Blake JV Football Team finished with an impressive record of 8-0 under first year head coach "Bryon Marshall.

The team’s success came really early in the first game of the season, when they beat rival Spirngbrook 48-6. From then on, the team dominated by by shutting out the opposing team or winning by at least a 26 point margin. In fact, the team had five straight shutouts. “I think the strength of the team was their mentality. They came into every game with this dominating mentality, wanting to dominate every single game,” Marshall said.

One big factor in order to go undefeated is good player- coach relationships. This season, the JV squad built great relationships with Marshall and assistant coach Daniel Ewanga (Coach Dbey). “A strength is... our coaching staff because Coach Marshall and Coach Dbey really helped us out and improved things from last year, and I’d say that we learned a lot more than we did last year because last year was a little more simplified, but this year it was taken to another level,” says sophomore linebacker Will-Josh Njeumi.

The team all agreed that their speed was a huge strength that helped them beat out the opposing team. In their first game against Springbrook, sophomore Isaiah Smith returned two punts,for touchdowns averaging 64 yards on the two returns.. “We are aggressive, very physical, and fast. Our offense was also extreme,” Smith said.

While the team did finish undefeated, there were a couple of games that were challenging in Marshall’s opinion, the Poolesville and Paint Branch games. “ It was hot and there was a lot of bugs on our sidelines, a lot of distractions. Despite all that, the team still found a way to win. It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to keep going at it and pull out the victory 34-0,” Marshall said about the Poolsville game. “ The Paint Branch game was tough because we got scored on for the first time, and our kids had to fight back from adversity, and we fought back hard enough to win that game also,” Marshall adds when asked about tough opponents.

While the Paint Branch game might have been challenging at first, that was the game when the team got that last piece of the puzzle they needed to go undefeated. Beating Paint Branch and going undefeated was remarkable for the team. “My favorite part of the season was beating Paint Branch. Definitely!,” says sophomore defensive lineman Dylan Brown. “... at the end of the Paint Branch game, when they accomplished their goal of going undefeated and when the clock hit zero, that was kind of it, you did what you were set out to do,” Marshall adds.

The JV team made history, being only the second Blake JV team to ever go undefeated. The team definitely deserved this for all the hard work they put in this season. “I just wanted to say thank you for working hard every day, coming to practice, going to class and keeping their grades up. I hope that this is a lesson to all sports teams that when you work hard and dedicate yourself to a goal you can accomplish it,” Marshall’s message to the team and the Blake community. Well done boys.

Left: Quarterback Isaiah Smith throwing a pass downfield. (Photo Courtesy of Blake Athletics) Right: Running back Sabbionn Adams runnning the ball on a carry. (Photo Courtesy of Blake Athletics)