I sat down with junior Ernie Baung, a captain and defensive leader on Irvington’s Varsity football team

Q: How has football impacted your life?

A:It’s taught me life lessons, and it has helped me bond with my teammates and create a sense of family on the team.

Q: What do you do as a captain on the football team?

A: It’s my job to get everyone riled up. I make sure everyone is trying hard, staying on top of things, an not slacking off.

Q: Varsity has 3 wins at the quarter season mark. What are your expectations for the rest of the season?

A: We practice hard every day, and our ultimate goal is to make it to the playoffs. We want to go all the way to NCS.

Q: The Varsity team has already won more games now than it did all year last year (2 wins in 2010-11 season). Did you expect the team to start the season like this?

A: Coach [Silvernale] had high expectations for us going in to the season. We’ve been practicing super hard, and we had high expectations for ourselves this season.

Along with Ernie, there are four other captains on the Varsity team: Dylan Werth, Steven Stewart, Ariel Hercick, and Raeshawn Lee.