Many seniors will be leaving varsity football this year, bringing up the question of how the team will adjust and perform next season. It remains to be seen whether the current juniors will be able to step up next season and replace the lost seniors.

The Eagles brought the heat last season, both on defense and offense, with an average of 58 tackles per game and 72 total touchdowns in the season. They had a 4-1 record in league last season and an 8-4 overall record.

Out of the 42 players on the roster last season, 21 of them are seniors, so the Eagles will have to recover quickly from losing so many players. The team is losing many of its wide receivers, outside linebackers and middle linebackers due to graduation. It is uncertain whether upcoming juniors will be able to make up for this loss.

However, the current juniors on the varsity team are ready to take on the challenge. “With the 2018 class leading next year as the senior class, we will be strong,” Andrew Cokley, junior and offensive lineman on the varsity team, said. “We have a fresh start next season to improve upon what happened last season and further our goals as a team.”

To prepare for a challenging season next year, varsity players are working harder than ever to improve. “The majority of us prepare in the advanced conditioning class with Struebing, where we go over a lot of plays and do conditioning and weight training,” Cokley said. “For those of us not in the class, we train on our own at Cal Fit doing workouts there.” The players will have to be in top physical condition to succeed next season.

Leadership has always been a crucial part of the football team, but next season it will be more crucial than ever due to the loss of the seniors. “The junior guys are going to have to step up and the upcoming seniors are going to have to lead the upcoming juniors,” Thomas Fancher, current junior and defensive lineman on varsity, said.

The question still remains as to whether varsity will perform better or worse than last season, but the class of 2018 is positive about the big changes coming for varsity football. “I would say right now we have a better chemistry, so maybe we will do better next season,” Fancher said. “I don’t know, we will just have to wait and see.”

The juniors seem to agree that the team has chemistry which will be a major deciding factor next season. “We have a good group of guys who have played together for a long time,” Cokley said. “Our team should do well. Our goal is always to win our league and advance to the playoffs.”

For now, Vista can only wait and hope that next season will be unforgettable.