After the devastating end to the season last year, the Oakdale Bears Varsity football team is preparing to have a great season, with hopefully a better ending. The Bears have gone through intensive training over the last  few months, in order to prepare for the 2023 season. They have started this season successfully with wins against Milford Mill, 22-21, and against the Allegany Campers, 41-24. The Bears pushed themselves to get both victories.

Oakdale started out with a strong lead of 28-7 going into halftime in the Allegany game. Senior captain Sean Tettah spoke about how it felt going into the second half with such a large lead: “It felt good coming out of the first half, but we were a little too confident which let them have a little comeback.”

Tettah adds, “I feel very assured  going into the rest of the year, I feel we can compete against the top teams and hold our own pretty well.”

When talking to Tettah about what changes have been made between this season and last, he explained how the team’s mindset is to “finish” after an unfortunate loss at states last season.

Football coach Kurt Stein says that they have not made very many changes compared to last season, but they have some players who are stepping up and helping the team. “I feel all of our guys that got playing time last year have made big strides going into this year.”

Stein had a lot to say about how the season has started, how the players are doing, and how he’s feeling about the rest of the season. When talking about improvements about the team from last season, Stein voices, “We have a lot of seniors who got significant playing time last year, they are our strength and they are playing great.”

The team has not been together for very long, but they have already built a very strong relationship amongst one another. “We have gotten in so little time, since a lot of these kids were on JV last year we needed to build chemistry and I feel we have done that,” Tettah vocalizes. 

The captains try to have a positive impact on the team. Tettah states, “I’m never trying to bring my teammates down but instead help try to get them better so we can achieve the same goal.”

 Since the season is just getting started and the Bears have only played 2 games, they are trying to stay consistent and keep improving. Stein vocalizes, “I always feel confident about the Bears.”

Overall, the Bears have dedication, determination and passion. This is going to be a very strong season for the Bears Varsity Football Team.