The Woodside football team head to their bye week with a 4-0 record, but will soon face the hardest part of their schedule.
The upcoming bye week gives Woodside a chance to recover and rest during the long, tough journey of the football season that the Peninsula Athletic League holds. An undefeated season takes hard work, dedication, and resilience, which are characteristics that this team needs to have to continue their streak.
“We have a lot of guys that are currently injured, but we will have a lot of time for guys to heal and it’s good to have that break between nonconference and conference games,” head coach Justin Andrews said. “We have guys playing multiple positions because if one guy goes down, we just don’t have the depth that we used to have, but a lot of guys have been able to step up because of injury.”
Despite injuries, Woodside has several key components to its roster with multiple players being recognized highly by their teammates, coaches, and fans.
“Joseph King, Marcelous Chester, Chris Brugger, Christian Ochoa, and Alex Roque are all key players for our team, and without them we would be at a big loss,” senior Captain Nick Rolle said.
So far this year, Woodside has won each game by a margin of almost twenty points per game, capping their streak off with a thirty point win over Christopher High School last week.
“We have a different mentality this season, we are trying to not become complacent with winning four games in a row,” junior Wide Receiver/Linebacker Weston Bourgeois told the Woodside Paw Print [previously Woodside World].
Last year the Wildcats stood undefeated going into their league schedule, but sadly lost every single game after, leaving them with a depressing 4-6 record. The team this year is highly criticized for their performance last year during the 2015 campaign, but most of the players and coaches believe that this year has something special going for them.
“The team this year is playing at a much higher level with a lot more consistency. The four wins that we have had up to this point have been much more convincing and encouraging,” Andrews said. “It definitely feels like the foundation of this year’s team is much more solid than last years team at this point.”
Bourgeois, who was a member of the varsity team last year as a sophomore, has high hopes for this season.
“We want to beat our rival Sequoia first and foremost, and we also want qualify to go to the CCS playoffs,” Bourgeouis stated. “I think there is always a possibility for a team to win a CCS championship, but it just comes down to whether you execute or not.”
With the team in place, success seems imminent for the wildcats during their league schedule. Left on the regular season schedule is Sequoia (1-3), Half Moon Bay (4-0), King’s Academy (3-0), South San Francisco (1-3), Menlo (4-0), and an end of the season showdown with Menlo Atherton (2-2).
“Now that we are starting our league games, all of them are key games,” Andrews said. “We have a good chance to contend for the PAL title and to make it to the postseason so that means every game will be important, and every single game will be tough.”
