After an eventful football season, the West Lauderdale Knights look to defend the kingdom one last time. During the regular season, the Knights have gone 3–4, but hope for the year is still very much alive.
Starting tight end Brycen Alford shared, “We’re feeling good, feeling confident. It’s kinda sad—there’s a lot of emotions going through, ya know? It’s our last game together.”
Starting linebackers Javion Wilson and Brayden Massey also reflected on the season. When asked about how he felt, Wilson said, “I’m a little disappointed with where we are record-wise, but I know that we can and we will bounce back stronger from this.” Massey added, “It’s not so bad—it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t match last season.” He also shared that he feels “redemption” is on the rise.
While the night focuses on the seniors, freshman players were also asked about the future of the program and how they feel about the seniors’ departure. Freshman linebacker Blaine Fortenberry said, “I feel like we’re gonna have an even better season next year. We’ll have a lot more experience and be able to be more of a team.”
Another freshman linebacker, Aiden Landers, added, “I feel really confident in our future at West Lauderdale. I feel really confident in all our classes—the sophomores, juniors, and us freshmen. All the classes have really good skill sets that we can all use.”
Freshman defensive back Tristan Clark shared a similar outlook: “I think that we’re gonna do really good when we move up. The seniors this year are also great. We could make it past the second round—you never know what could happen—but I see a good future.”
The pep rally early Friday morning went as expected, with students showing their support for the players, band, and cheerleaders. Three senior students were asked how they felt about Senior Night. Hunter Walton said, “There’s not much I can say besides it’s pretty cool.” Michael Lewis shared his excitement, saying, “EASY WIN FOR SENIOR NIGHT!” and Gabe Wheat added, “We’re gonna see some seniors poppin’ off on the field—Cam Vaughn, Ray Bartley, Brycen Alford, Bradley Clark himself on the field. It’s boutta be a night for the Knights tonight.”
There’s not much else to say besides that the Knights—both players and fans—feel extremely confident that they can take down the 2–5 Northeast Trojans at The Kingdom starting at 7 o’clock.
In other news, FCA is holding a fifth quarter after the game at First Baptist Meridian from 9:30 to midnight. We hope to see you there.
Go Knights.
