“Laser Focused”

For the past four years, Seniors Anthony Oates, and Everton Brown have had a successful journey with the killingly highschool football team. Their freshman year they went undefeated and won the state championship, their sophomore season they made it to the championship but lost, ending their season with 11 wins, and 2 loses. Their Junior year they went 7-4, making it their worst year playing at the high school. 

On Thursday December 12th 2024, the day before the boys made their way to Rentschler field to compete once again for the state championship. They were facing off against Sheehan, the one team this year that came close to breaking their undefeated record. 

Oates was asked before the game why he thinks the team was more successful this year, his response was that “ they worked together more as a team this year”. Brown was asked the same and said that “ the team was young last year and didn’t know what to do, but this year they came together and got a sense of it, came together, and played well”.

Both of their mindsets are to go in with confidence, Oates said “Our mindset is 100%, and laser focused”. 

When asked about their thoughts before the game they both said they feel prepared. Oates added “ We just have to execute our game plan our coaches give to us”.

The Killingly football team left Rentschler field  with a win on friday night, leaving the town proud and excited. Oates and Brown went undefeated for the second time, and won the state chip for a second time. Excited is an understatement for them. Brown said that his favorite part of the game was “Celebrating the win on the bus ride and then the parade on the way to the highschool”. 

Oates shared a similar favorite memory saying that “ Watching the clock run out was a great feeling”. 

And while both Oates and Brown both said that Sheehan played better this time compared to the last, Sheehan couldn’t get past killinglys defence or stop our offence, with the game ending with a score of 48-33.