By Ryan Duffy
<[email protected]>

At this point in the season, Head Coach Myron “Mo” Moriarity said he feels the football team is off to a good start, and with the Homecoming game scheduled for Oct. 2 against perennial powerhouse Warren Central, building off of that good start with a win is important.

“I think we’re getting better each week,” he said. “It is important that we just take things a week at a time, and I feel we are doing that.”

Carmel lost to Cathedral 7-3 in the first game of the season, and cornerback and senior Ronald “Ronnie” Fowlkes said he thinks the team learned a lot from that loss. “We learned the strengths and weaknesses of our offense and defense and we figured out what we need to work on,” Fowlkes said.

Moriarity said the lessons learned in the Cathedral loss will help the team grow as a whole. “I think we felt like we played a good game defensively,” he said. “We need to keep from making mistakes at critical times.”

Devin Brinson, running back and junior, said that he thinks the team can take what it learns from every loss and use it as a tool for the rest of the season. “What we learn from every loss sharpens us up,” Brinson said. “It then allows us to play better overall and helps us execute.”

Warren Central has become a big rivalry for this school over the course of the past few seasons; the teams even met at State in 2006. Two seasons ago, the Greyhounds defeated the Warriors in a 42-35 victory for the Homecoming game.

Fowlkes said the team feels no added pressure playing Warren Central, despite the Warriors being a tough opponent. “I think we are confident that we can pull off the win,” Fowlkes said. “I don’t think that the success from the last two seasons has anything to do with this season. If anything, I think the previous success lessens the pressure put on us and gives us more confidence to win.”

Moriarity said he thinks that pressure is constant for this school’s athletics. “We have had pressure on us for some time,” he said. “Going to the State championships in three years makes expectations very high. Pressure is just something we have learned to live with; any one game won’t change it.”

Despite any perceived added pressure to win the Homecoming game, Brinson said that the team isn’t even thinking about Warren Central, yet. Instead, he said the players and coaches are focusing on tomorrow night’s game at North Central. “We take our season one game at a time, and our main focus is always the game in front of us,” Brinson said. “But, after this week’s game, I am sure we will focus in on it majorly so that when the time comes for us to play Warren, we will be ready.”

Overall, Moriarity said the coaches and players are very excited for the Homecoming game this year. “Homecoming is a big deal here,” Moriarity said. “Everyone is involved and it’s a very fun week, and we expect it to be fun this year, just as usual.”

“Homecoming is a great experience for not only the players, but the students as well,” Brinson said. “We are very excited to play a talented Warren Central team and give the fans a good game for Homecoming.”