“Let’s Go Knights!” echoes throughout the UMBC stadium. It’s anyone’s game, as there is still nothing on the scoreboard but the last remaining minute ticking away. Thirty seconds on the clock, Middletown High School senior Mary-Kate Afzali with the soccer ball. Afzali kicks the ball upfield to MHS junior Mary Ann Pritts, 27 seconds remaining. Pritts takes the shot. Everyone holds their collective breath. And she scores! Middletown 1, Fallston 0, with 23 seconds left in the game.
Witnessing such a remarkable victory is a feeling like no other that leaves fans craving more. With the three consecutive girls soccer state championships and the two consecutive football state championships, the bar has been set high for the winter sports, testing them to see which teams have the same winning qualities. These high expectations could either inspire or distress the winter teams.
Brittney George, MHS senior soccer and basketball player, said winning states has not created pressure in a negative way, but in a positive way. “It’s an inspiration, wanting to do well for the school and winning each game knowing we have our school to back us up no matter what happens,” she said.
The winter sports coaches vary in their perspective of the fall sports’ winning seasons.
“It inspires me as a wrestling coach to get our team to perform and to work and to put forth their best effort as a wrestling team,” said MHS wrestling coach James Schartner.
Aaron White, MHS boys basketball coach, said, “There’s no more pressure than we put on ourselves to win… So I would say it is more of an inspiration trying to reach those same goals.”
With 10 of the 13 boys varsity basketball players being football state champions, winning states is more of an inspiration for the boys basketball team. The feeling is “one in a million” so we will work hard to get that feeling again, said Ian Grife, MHS senior football and basketball player.
Having also experienced the exhilaration of winning the football state championship, Logan Casey, MHS junior football player, said he feels that winning states has created neither pressure nor inspiration for him in swimming. “I don’t think I’m going to go to states, but going to states in football drives me to do better in swimming and other sports,” he said.
Although MHS senior soccer player Afzali said she isn’t feeling any pressure to make it to states in swimming, she thinks that there may be some girls that are. “For the girls that are really serious about swimming and swimming is their main sport, they may be feeling a little bit of pressure to make it that far,” Afzali said.
Another member of the state championship football team, MHS senior Hank Smith, has brought his skills to indoor track for the winter season. Smith broke the high school shot-put record for indoor track and is currently ranked number one in the state for the 2A shot-put.
Smith said, “I definitely have a stronger drive to achieve a state title, because, since I was on the football team, I want to live up to those expectations in any sport.”
MHS junior football and basketball player Bradley Rinehart said, “I think it’s more of an inspiration. The way the season is going right now, we’re really just in it for each other. Football was great, but that’s a separate season.”
As the winter sports teams approach their final competitions, the ultimate goal is within reach. Striving for the state championship title, the winter sports look at the fall champions to see what makes a winning team.
“This year we just really came together as a team,” said MHS senior soccer player Caitlin McLister.
Schartner recognizes that team spirit played an important role in the championship teams’ successes. “I think it shows that they are the ultimate team programs. They have built their programs so that the team is the center of the program – not so much winning or losing but the team,” Schartner said.
Burr has a similar mindset when it comes to the indoor track team. “I think one of the strongest traditions at Middletown for the track team is the team atmosphere – we want to be a team,” he said. “Even though it is for the most part individuals performing at one time, the whole team is there to support. I always take the JV to the varsity meets to have them cheer for the varsity guys. I take the varsity guys to the JV meets so the varsity guys can cheer for the JV guys. We’re all in it together; we’re all one family trying to cheer each other on.”
But team spirit means nothing if the athletes don’t put in the time.
MHS Athletic Director Tim Ambrose thinks the key to the fall teams’ successes was “the dedication of the kids to work out-of-season.” Ambrose said, “In order for your teams to be good, the student athletes have to train more than just only the season they’re in.”
The dilemma is that students on multiple sports teams would have to choose just one sport to train for all year long. Swimmer Casey noted, “If I did train off-season, I could definitely be better, but with football and lacrosse conditioning, I wouldn’t have time to join a club team.”
In any sport, practicing a lot is necessary, and that takes dedication and hard work.
Schartner said he thinks the key to the girls soccer and football teams’ successes was hard work. The wrestling team’s saying is “When talent doesn’t work hard, hard work beats talent.” There are many talented teams out there, he said, but the football and soccer teams ended up at states because they worked hard.
He added, “I think both of those two teams and their programs are really good examples of what happens when everybody works together as a team and works hard as a team and everybody puts their best effort forward.”
