Will Pentucket High’s Varsity Football team do as well in their ongoing 2016 season as they did in last year’s unforgettable season? With a ten and one record to live up to from the previous season, it will be a hard, yet not impossible task to complete.

Last fall, the team won each and every one of their regular season games. Facing defeat did not occur until the first round of playoffs. This year, however, Pentucket did not have as strong of a start to their season. The team lost their very first game, six to zero, to Canton High.

Despite the first loss, Pentucket came back in game two, with a strong win of 27-12 over Amesbury High. So, how is the rest of the season looking for the boys?

Pentucket junior, Kristen Daley, is skeptical about the rest of the reason. When asked if she thinks the team will make it to the playoffs yet again she says, “I don’t think they will make it this year because they lost so many seniors to the 2016 graduating class.”

Conor O’Neil agrees, suggesting that, “With a tough start to the season, along with the seniors that the team lost, it will be hard to have as good of a record this year.”

Three games into the season, with one win and two loses, leaves Ella Vicedomine, Pentucket senior and football fan, skeptical about the season.

The first loss was a bummer to not only her, but the whole fan section. The following win gave them hope, but the second loss of the third game is upsetting to both the fans and the team.

Based on the these three games, Vicedomine believes that, “The team still has a good chance at having another great season, but it’ll be a tough fight. No matter how the rest of the season plays out, I look forward to going to as many games as I can.”

Julia Wyner, another senior and football fan here at Pentucket High, is also looking forward to the rest of the season. When asked what team she enjoys watching play most, she says the football team is number two, right after the girls varsity soccer team, which she is a part of.

Wyner says that she understands how hard it can be to keep your head up after a couple of tough losses, but she knows what the football team is capable of and wishes them the best of luck in their 2017 season.

Varsity football captain Liam Sheehy, on the other hand, is hopeful. When asked about the loss of players and the first loss, he says, “We have a lot more young players than older players on the team this year, but if everybody practices hard and gives it their all on the field, then it’ll be a good season.”

Teammate Jack Galligan agrees, saying that, “The outcome of the season all depends on how hard we practice.”

Saturday, Oct. 1, Pentucket beat one of their biggest rivals, Newburyport High, 21-19 for the fourth year in a row. This gives both the team and the fans hope that Pentucket will be able to pull out another win against North Reading, tonight, Friday Oct. 7.

Pentucket junior, Lydia Mann is hopeful that the team will win tonight. She thinks that, “Although they have had a couple of tough losses, they’ve also had some great wins. I think that everybody is hoping for another W tonight.”

Despite the varying outlooks on the team’s season, the only way to see how it is going to happen is to keep on supporting, and hope for the best.