We’re all excited for Friday Night Lights to commence and Oakdale has a killer football team that could definitely go to states!

The question everyone is asking needs to be answered: Are the Bears even eligible for playoffs now that two games haven’t played? Spoiler alert: yes, they are.  The confusion is from the first game of the season that was rained out not once, but twice, against Digital Harbor. The key is that it wasn’t cancelled, but a forfeit at a score of 19-0 with the Bears in the lead.

Coach Stein explained, “With the way the total point system works, it’s not your total points that matter, but your total points divided by 10, and that’s the number they use for the playoffs. But in our case, they’ll divide by nine, so mathematically, it shouldn’t hurt us too bad.”

Stein plans on making no changes to how he prepares the team since the same odds of making playoffs are the same as any other. “We just prioritize our time and we have a good plan that we follow each year. We try to stick to the script and make sure we have time for everything by taking care of home, taking care of work and taking care of other things separately”.

Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating with the game schedule, so the Bears have yet to play a game. Stein, hungry for a win, commented, “I’m most excited to hopefully play a game this Friday night after two weeks.”

And our coach isn’t the only one who’s ready; the team is equally as excited to get on the field. “My favorite part [of being on varsity football] is running out on the field Friday nights with the Oakdaliens screaming at us and getting that ‘dub’,” Junior Ethan Reifer says.

While most of the team is frustrated with the inability to play a proper game so far, Reifer is using it as motivation: “The fact that we haven’t been able to play only makes us want to win more”.

As motivation goes, Oakdale has plenty of it. One of the most exciting parts of FNL is the Oakdale student section. The seniors have bigs plans to hype up the crowd. “Last year, there was only a first quarter bang, we didn’t really cheer that much,” says Oakdalien Reece Antognoni, “This year we’re trying to incorporate more of the football players and more chanting.”

Antognoni also promises lots of good themes and louder cheers, which will hopefully help encourage the Bears to play their hardest. This will be most important during the games with rival teams, especially Linganore.

“We just have to be focused during practice, be a unit during practice with no messing around,” comments Senior Colin Schlee, on versing challenging teams.  His plan is to set a good example for the rest of the team and show leadership whenever they’re all together. “Obviously I want to play in college, so showing leadership now will help me show leadership later” explains Schlee. As one of many captains and quarterback, one would think he would be treated differently, but he explains that he is treated like the rest of the team is. “They may look at me differently, but I’m treated the same.” Schlee clarifies.

All in all, the Oakdale Bears are thrilled to play and ready for a great season to begin.