Photo Provided By: Rose Waldron

Let’s go back to August 4th. 

CHSAA announces the 2020-21 sports season schedule after months of uncertainty. It was a sign of hope after many students in the spring were heartbroken following the cancellation of sports due to COVID-19.

Thanks to the Boards of the Directors and other leading factors such as Governor Jared Polis, student-athletes’ dreams of playing–despite the ongoing pandemic–became a reality.

For varsity football, it meant business as usual preparing for a title run regardless of the conditions.

“We hadn’t had a lot of practices to get completely ready, but when we went full padding, we went as hard as we could,” said junior Nicolas Logue.

As expected with the current circumstances, there were still hardships while trying to get ready.

“We did many team and individual practices and workouts,” said senior Noah Salazar. “We had a couple kids test positive, so that set us back a little bit.

Thankfully, the team was still able to play football; although, they obviously had to adapt to many changes. One of which was the lack of fans going to games.

“It honestly was a big disadvantage,” said sophomore Mulumba Wa-kalonji. “Playing with a big crowd gives you energy and adrenaline that is very useful during the game.”

Salazar also agreed.

“The disadvantage was huge because having that energy from the crowd can really get us going and shift the outcome of the game.”

Despite a 38-7 blowout against Arapahoe in the opener, the Wolves couldn’t keep their momentum as they proceeded to lose three of their next four games. Those losses came from Eaglecrest, Cherry Creek, and Cherokee Trail: the top three best teams in the 5A Centennial League this season. 

“They were pretty hard teams to play against. Especially CT, but I feel like we could have done better,” said Logue.

With a 3-3 record heading into the final game against Columbine, the Wolves wanted to end this season on a positive note. 

“Everyone wanted to play extra hard for our seniors especially with [us] getting screwed with COVID this year,” said Salazar.

Unfortunately, they got beat 35-20 with Columbine scoring 21 straight points in the first half. The team finished 3-4, missing the 5A State Tournament this year. 

“[It’s] really disappointing, we had a lot of tough losses this year,” said Wa-kalonji. “Although it was a short season, I wish we still made it.”

Regardless of their record, it was great for the team to still go out and compete, despite current events going on in the world.

While looking forward towards next season, with the pandemic hopefully slowed down by then, players are still hopeful for the team’s future performance.

“I feel like we had a solid team this year,” said Logue. “I’m very hopeful for next season.”