Hard work pays off for the Highlanders

Five, four, three, two, one. The jubilant students rise from the bleachers throwing up their hands and cheering as they look at the scoreboard. 42 for Piedmont, 24 for the visitors. The victorious football players shake the hands of their opponents and storm up the stairs with pride; the Piedmont Highlanders have just conquered and won another game.
Approaching the end of the season, success derived from hard work has accumulated a record of eight wins and zero losses at the time of publication for the varsity football team. Currently, the Highlanders have beat Justin Siena, Moreau Catholic, Healdsburg, Albany, Richmond, Hayward, Arroyo and Mount Eden.
The teams success shows that their hard work has payed off, and their hard work has been demonstrated outside of the school year.
“We had a summer full of practices and we’ve been trained well enough to know our playbook inside and out,” junior Mason Willrich said.
In addition to familiarizing with the playbook, adjustments were made to solve previous errors the team had.
“We had to improve our tackling and stop the run. Last year we weren’t making key tackles” senior Cole Gruendl said.
By practicing and demonstrating dedication in their time away from school, the team was ready prepared for a victorious season.
As of now, the Highlanders have beaten teams they have generally lost to before.
“Every year we face teams that we lost to in the past, but it’s never the same team, just the name,” junior Spencer Chan said.
Beating teams that they had lost to in the previous year is a reminder of what hard work can lead to, Willrich said.
Not only does hard work and practice merit the success of the Highlanders season, but through spending time together outside of the game, the team has become brothers.
“We have really united team” Chan said. “We are all brothers and I think that being so close has helped us get to where we are.”
Through all this success the team remains modest.
“We aren’t letting it get to our heads and we realize that each game is a battle and we have to earn it” Willrich said.
Dedication has not only been shown on the field, but on the internet. Through persistence in publicizing and telling people to vote, they won the opportunity to have one of their games televised.
On Oct. 10, the Highlanders game against the Hayward Farmers was televised on KTVU. Through this experience, the Highlanders had the opportunity of feeling like a college or NFL team.
Although the Highlanders wanted screen time, it was a distraction at first.
“As the game got closer it became a nervous distraction, however, during the game it never crossed my mind,” Chan said.
After battling many teams and being televised, the end of the season and NCS is approaching. With many of the Highlanders goals already being achieved, for seniors, they only have couple more games to play as a Highlander and to fulfill their goals.
“My goal is to be the best as I possibly can and to make my family proud”, captain senior Fiachra Collins said. “I’m glad the other two captains are with me and playing for Piedmont is amazing.”
Senior Cole Gruendl hopes to remain undefeated and to win the division four championship game.
Although the season end is approaching, opportunities to remain undefeated and to fulfill personal goals still remain before they play under the friday night lights for one last time.
The Highlanders played San Lorenzo High School on Saturday, Nov. 1, with results unknown at time of publication.