Update: In an earlier version of this story, Garrett Halfast was incorrectly referred to as Greg Halfast.
September 11 for middle school football was Corry Beavers’ first home game of the season. After securing a heavy victory against Girard, many thought that Corry would continue strong against North East, but surprisingly Corry was defeated 0-30.
Corry came close to a touchdown a couple times throughout the game’s entirety. Their defense is usually pretty firm but couldn’t seem to keep up with North East’s strong offense throughout the game. In the first quarter opening drive they got stopped on the fourth down.
Garrett Halfast #59 ran into some trouble with a slight injury in the middle of the game when he hurt his leg. “Second quarter almost at half time, we had one timeout left,” Halfast said. “I think we were running slants or hitch. I was blocking. The guy went towards a ball that was being passed. I leaped for it in an attempt to steal it and someone landed on my leg.” Even with a slight limp, he intends on practicing hard for the next game.
Half time left the score 0-22 with the Beavers hungry for a comeback. Again the Beavers came close a few times to make a potential comeback but couldn’t hold out against Northeast. After entering the fourth quarter they had multiple check downs for easy yards. Quite a few times the Beavers did stop Northeast and push them back, truly putting forth the effort, but it wasn’t quite enough with the remaining time.
“We went in there cocky knowing we beat Girard last time. We thought we could just go in there and win, but we had a wake up call. The first quarter is where it all went downhill,” Halfast said.
“By the fourth quarter it wasn’t all about winning; we just worked hard at trying to get some points on the board,” Connar Simmons, #62, said.
Even after defeat, Garrett Halfast tried to keep things positive with determination towards his upcoming practices. “We all felt heated, but we’re going to try harder at practice,” Halfast said. “We should always have good practices, not bad practices. We need to go one hundred percent every play.” He continued to explain what a great feeling it is on the field regardless of victory. “We have been practicing for a long time. Put in a lot of hard work. To go out there after school in the hot sun, I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just magical knowing everybody has your back.”
It is still early in the season, so even after a tough loss the team has a lot of time to pick themselves up. Looking at their game against Girard, it is safe to say that the Beavers have some tricks up their sleeves. It will be interesting to see their performance in the future.
