An Astonishing Accomplishment
The crowd went wild as the Albert Lea varsity football team took on Tri-City United (TCU) on Sept. 30, winning 21 to 6. This was a first win in four years, and the first homecoming win in eight years. The players could not be more excited. Head Coach Corey Black said, “It was a complete team victory. The defense played well and the offense executed at a high level.”
After they defeated TCU, the team listened to Flo-Rida’s “My House” in the locker room and there was “a lot of jumping up and down and giving a lot of hugs.” Black described the victory as “a storybook ending”, and so did the players.
Seniors Riet Lony and Tanner Palmer both agreed it was a great night to play football.
“All of our hard work paid off,” Lony said. “It was a great overall feeling, and it will be something we’ll remember for a long time.”
Palmer claims it was a “glorious” win, and he has never had that much fun playing football before.
The football program has received a lot of criticism in the past. Black explained the win is an opportunity “to show what we can really do as a group together”.
“We face a lot of criticism,” Black said. “Whether it’s in the hallway, or at lunch time, and even in speeches at graduation ceremonies that these guys take really hard and it was really good to win one of the biggest games of the year.”
The boys keep a positive attitude throughout the season, and a big part of that is how Black pumps up the team before every game. They have rituals they perform as a team as well. It is called, “The Code”. Black describes it as a thing that reminds them of the mindset of how they want to give a full effort into every play.
“We tell them to make a memory,” Black said. “Homecoming is something that, especially to the seniors, we will remember for the rest of their lives and it was important for me to invoke that in them and get them to understand that they controlled how they were going to play out their effort and their mindset going into the game and what they wanted to get out of the game as well. We just told them to go out there and make memories they will remember forever.”
They made a memory for the fans too. The crowd rushed the field at the end of the game to share in the victory celebration including homecoming queen Becca Schei.
“I was happy and excited because they won, “ said Schei. “I hugged Tristan. He is my best friend. He’s number one.”
The football team has worked extra hard this season, and they have a game October 7th, at 7 p.m. against Austin, and they hope to see you there.
