Cheering fans, thumping hearts, heavy breath, and a lot of yelling is just a casual night for these athletes. On Tuesday, November 3rd, the boy’s soccer team played in the final round of District Playoff against Karns City. The boys said they played their hearts out in what will be the end of their 2020 season.

During this tight game, Punxsy gave it their all, according to the team, but unfortunately went home defeated with a score of 0-1 and Karns City continued on to States. The loss was hard for many of the athletes but their passion and devotion to the sport continues on.

In preparation for Districts, the team implemented a new formation during practices to help on the defensive side of things. This new arrangement boded well for the team in the beginning of the game, but the situation began to change.

“I thought we were going to win when we first arrived in Brockway. But after they scored their first goal, my doubts started to settle in,” said Andrew Young.

After Karns City made that one and only goal, Punxsy was unable to return, ending the game. Even though the team lost as a whole, many of the players said they had a spectacular game.

“Jacob Ebel had a fantastic game,” Young said. “He had many amazing saves and kept us in the game.”

Young also adds in his own personal input on what the team might have been able to do better that game.

“I believe that our team could have done better with supporting our offensive attack and maybe given us more opportunities to score,” said Young.

Having the District game is a miracle in itself, most of the players said they were concerned about even having a game at all. The season was difficult enough with new rules and regulations, but athletes began to wonder if the season would end at their last seasonal game or if they would be able to continue.

“I don’t think we were worried about having a season, but we were worried about having districts because we would have to play far away teams,” Jacob Ebel said.

Garrett Eddy explains how soccer has affected him as a person and the players around him.

“Soccer made me the person I am today by teaching me how to work together with a group of guys that throughout the season become your family, and you realize that you will do anything to help the team get the W,” Garrett Eddy said. “Soccer has taught me the importance of just team mentality. You might have never played with some of the guys but you learn to adapt in the way that is going to best fit the team.”

With many of the players being seniors, soccer will lose a few key players in their lineup. Eddy puts this into an unexpected perspective.

“I’m not too sure how Punxsy soccer will be in years to come,” Eddy said. “I don’t ever see it as being as good as the guys on last year’s team. I just want teams in the future to know that mentality is 90% of a soccer team. You can be the best soccer team in the state, which I believe we were, but we just did not have quite the right mentality to get to that state championship.”

Soccer taught many of these boys life lessons and brought about new friendships according to the players. They said they learned what it really means to be a team and have become better people because of it.