The Class of 27´ had a rough first season as freshman Patriot football players. They finished 1-3.

With a roster full of talent, South is looking for a comeback season in their sophomore year. 

Freshman Richard Texis, played both sides of the ball this season, at defensive end and offensive lineman.

In Texis’ opinion, the Most Valuable Player was Jalen Jones, running back for Parkway South. 

“He’s the guy that plays till the snap, till the whistle blows, and gives it his all. He gets the play done whenever he can. He helps carry the team,” Texis said

Texis expected the team to overall be competitive this season. 

“I expected us to win a couple games, but it turns out we didn’t. I really thought that we would have been a better team. At the end of the day, I really did think it was a good team,” he said.

The Patriots had lots of potential and had the players to do so. With great head coaches, the team was expected to perform, according to Texis.

“I saw the talent we had on our team, especially with our quarterback Tucker Swinton and running back Jalen Jones. Also, with a good offensive line. We thought we were going to have a good offense and defense,” Texis said

With a disappointing record, does this show that the team isn’t as good as they thought or was it just a fluke?

“Yes I do think our record showed our talent. It showed us we needed a lot of help and that some of it could have gone better, but we tried our best and only got the one win,” Texis said

The Patriots need to make adjustments for next year in order not underperform.

“We will start doing more lifting so injuries don’t happen as much and practices will change, I believe our JV team will do very good with the amount of talent we have,” Texis said. 

With this overall frustrating season, injuries could have played a factor into the year.

“One injury that I do remember was Liam [Collett] breaking both wrists during one summer practice. That really did affect us because he is a part of our o line, and worried about it but he came back healthy before the season started,” Texis said.

Freshman Jaydin Gray, cornerback for the Patriots also had things to say about the rough opening season. 

“Before the season I expected it to be difficult because I had to keep up with school and play football,” Gray said.

Balancing academics along with your sport can be difficult, and it seems as maybe that has an impact on the players.

“I knew this was going to be tiring going into the season,” Gray said “For me personally it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to balance it. I practice time management and prioritize school work before I go do other things.”

Freshman Tucker Swinton, the starting quarterback for the team, was a huge part of the team and the leader.

“We were better but it’s not like we didn’t win any games,” Swinton said.

Okay, who is a team expecting and wanting to surpass next season?

“Parkway Central, Parkway West,” Tucker said 

Surpassing other Parkway schools is a priority it seems as and to overcome the other schools in the district. South didn’t face the other Parkway Schools this year but is looking forward to facing them next year.

 The team does different types of workouts and practices to help improve their performance out on the field. Swinton said the players are already training for next season.

 “Weightlifting in the weight room and players showing different things to do this year,” Swinton said. 

Freshman Liam Collett, offensive/defensive lineman, was also interviewed about the team’s disappointing season.

“Our goal next year is to do better than last year and the other years before, since we have a new coaching staff.” Collett said.