Nice finish to a great season

Very proud of the effort today as 6th grade Orange defeated Germantown Blue 19-13 to finish the season.

For the game, I was very pleased at how the players responded to adversity. We fumbled the opening kickoff and gave up a quick touchdown right after that. However, the players responded strongly and never repeated their mistakes, and got better as the game went on. They also stepped up to the moment in the 4th quarter, picking up a crucial 4th down conversion that enabled us to kneel down to run out the clock.

For the season, I simply can't say enough about this group of kids. We started the season 1-3, and finished the season 3-1 with the only loss during that period being a one-point loss to a very good Lake Country program.

I told the players after the game that they'll always be very special to myself and the other coaches, and that they were one of the best "teams" that I ever coached. I say "teams" in quotation marks because I am not simply speaking in terms of wins and losses, yards gained, points scored, or those kind of things. Rather, this team had great team chemistry and was full of unselfish players that were willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the team. They also seemed to get along very well as a group, and we did not have any bullying, cliques, or inappropriate behavior towards a teammate all season long.

This was a great group of good character kids, and not just good players. It was an honor to coach all of them and I can't wait to see how much progress they make as they get older and continue to improve.

A reminder to all players and parents to attend the banquet, the information should be on the website http://www.hartfordyouthfootball.com/. The banquet is always a very fun night for all players to be recognized and honored, and it gives the kids one last chance to come together as a team before next season.

A great thanks to the players, my assistant coaches and team managers (who were absolutely great this season), the youth football volunteers and most importantly the parents for everything you did to make this season a great success.

Thanks again, and I hope to see all of you at the banquet!

Mike