Irvington Football ended their 2022 season with an impressive 5-5 record. Despite being moved up a division from previous years, the team was able to hold their ground against the more challenging opponents.

Going into the season, the team wanted to focus on improving their offensive plays. Starting the summer before with early morning workouts and practices, the team has drilled down to improve this aspect of their play. The team’s hard work and dedication to improve their offense did show throughout the season, especially in wide receiver Jovin Basra (12). 

“Even in this higher division, playing against much rougher teams, we did really well,” says co-captain and quarterback Aaryan Shah (12). “I can see the team’s improvement overall from previous years.”

The most important game to the team was their first league game against the Washington Huskies. The Vikings in previous years have particularly struggled against the Huskies, but were able to shut them down this season 36-31. 

“The most exciting part of the season was the game against Washington,” says co-captain and guard Felipe Romero (12). “The game was extremely hyped up due to our past arguments and beef with the team. Washington was also the only other Fremont team in the league, so it felt amazing to defeat them in their homecoming game.”

Viking’s football started preparing for the season last summer, with practices led by the 4 co-captains. With the lifted COVID-19 restrictions, the team was able to practice and run drills more efficiently, leading to much faster improvement. During the school year, the team not only practiced everyday after school, but also held strategy sessions during the team’s shared advisory in the Norse Hall. 

Outside of the field, the team experienced growth in their personal development goals and became notably closer with one another. “Football heavily relies on teamwork,” says Samuel Ma, co-captain and linebacker. “This season, the entire team became much closer together through team dinners and interacting with each other during shared advisories.”

In previous years, Vikings Football did reportedly struggle with maintaining dedication throughout the entirety of the season. However, the 2022 season marked the turnaround in team attitude. “Due to our closer bonds, the entire team was able to stay motivated throughout the season this year,” says Shah. “I definitely saw this correlate to improved performance on the field as well.”

“Our team was really like a family,” says cornerback Narendra Kesavalu (12). “We spent a majority of our days together. We were all super close to each other, and this trust in each other led to us carrying out more advanced plays and strategies.”

“We’re going to come back even stronger,” says Ma. “I have faith in the current juniors and sophomores on the team – they all have great potential. I know they will do excellent next year.”