Team 44 was a brotherhood that the 2015 varsity football seniors had. It was something they they built during the season, and something they will never forget.

As the 2016 season is getting underway, the seniors will be calling themselves Team 45 because it is the 45th varsity football team at MCHS.

“Team 44 was truly a brotherhood that we never had.  We accomplished a great deal as a program establishing discipline and improvements. We lost several dependable leaders such as Blake Parzych, Kenny Kirkland, and more,” Elijah Williams, senior running back, said.

This season, senior captains are Logan O’Brien, Johnny Carnagio, Walker Whalen, Zack Kijowski, and Williams. They will be stepping up and coaching Team 45. Furthermore, their team goals for this year are to win the first game against the Oswego Panthers on Aug. 26, to be conference champs, and to win the first playoff game.  

“The seniors truly helped make us feel a part of the team. Having those big boys leaving nothing will ever change. We have a lot of young pups coming up for us and starting for us; they have to be ready for the task at hand.  They need to understand that us seniors are 100 percent there for them and including the whole team,” Junior Rodriguez, senior safety, said.

Team 45 represents a combination of pride, poise and teamwork, said Williams.  

“I think this year we are a little more focused on the football aspect.  But as the season goes on, I think we still need to maintain on how our we performed, but somehow come all together and have a bond as a team,” Bryson Dowdle, senior tackle, said.

Two teams have been added to the SPC (Southwest Prairie Conference): Joliet Central and Joliet West.  Both of these games will be played away on their turf.  Team 45 will be playing Joliet Central their second game on Sept. 2.

“I feel really good about this year; we may not be as big as Team 44 was, but I believe that we are much faster and I feel that our team will feel dangerous to our opponents,”  Rodriguez, said.

Kijowski describes that Team 45 is going to show how mentally and physically tough the team is and we will find out after week one to determine it.  “I think that we are quicker, smarter, and more agile for Teams 45.  Last year, Team 44 was a bunch of kids were grew into a family and we looked out for each other and help to keep each other up when times got tough in games,” said Kijowski.