After last year’s record of 5-5, the varsity football team has a current record of 2-1, after beating Richard Montgomery HS (RM) and Einstein HS and losing to Seneca Valley HS (SVHS) in this season’s early games.

The Rams defeated RM 46-33 in a game that had the student section of both schools’ on their feet. For most of the night, the team managed to stay ahead of RM and are hoping to continue this playing style of aggressive offense for the rest of the season.

The Rockville a�� RM rivalry has been going on for years, making the first game of the season highly anticipated. Because of this, the game had record breaking attendance. There were also a multitude of competitive comments being made on social media by students from both schools.

“It’s a really big game and there [was] a lot of trash talk. The coaches just told us to zone out of it all and focus on the task at hand,” junior defensive tackle and right guard Manny Essien said. “My favorite part of the game was seeing our rivals who were talking so much get beat.”

During preseason, the coaches changed practices to better train the players for competition. There is a fundamental period where the athletes can work on individual skill. This consists of the coaches teaching plays and players getting them down.

Afterwards, the team goes into their fast period where they accelerate the tempo and pace of practice, making it similar to a game environment so that players are more physically prepared.

“I think we are hoping for the playoffs. That’s what we want. That’s the goal,” offensive coordinator Jason Lomax said. “5-5 last year got us to about mediocre. It got us some respect back from the previous two seasons and now I think we are looking at the bigger picture. We want to challenge for a playoff spot.”

To have the chance of qualifiying for playoffs, The Rams have to have a record of at least 8-2.

“We can look forward as a community, as one school, one world, one future, one team, to a decent playoff run,” senior wide receiver and running back Anthony Albert said. “We know what needs to be done and we are going to go out there and try to do it, get this playoff run.”