The rebuild is complete after two years of junior varsity football only, Eagles return to varsity level football and end bounce-back year
By: Brandon Acevedo
This year, the Eagles spread their wings to soar into varsity football once again.
Marshall’s varsity football came back after a five-year drought, playing Hoover High School in their first game back. They finished the season with a 0-9 record and a combined score of 45 points between all games. Quarterback Christopher Romero rushed for five out of the team’s seven total touchdowns.
“From my perspective, we obviously didn’t come out with the win. The scoreline was not a good sight,” quarterback senior Christopher Romero said about the team’s first game back.
The Eagles lost 51-7 to Hoover with Romero scoring a 64-yard rushing touchdown.
Head coach Darius Streets is leading the Eagles in the reinstatement of football at Marshall. He is not only focused on winning games, however. He wants to teach his players not only how to play football but also to become grown, respectable men.
Streets has been coaching since the current players were on JV.
“Success isn’t measured by wins and losses, all we can do is go up from here,” he said.
Marshall persevered despite having only 26 players, meaning that most of their players have to play the whole game. Most football programs contain the numbers that allow them to give breaks to their players through substitutions.
Defensive coordinator Kevin Smith talked about how he feels about his defensive team and gave props to his players.
“The defense, I would say, they are very resilient. There has been a lot of growth between everyone and some standout players, like David Seo in the linemen core and Aaron Hurtado for the linebackers core,” he said.
“We had a good season, it could’ve been better. There’s always room for improvement,” captain Aaron Hurtado said.
“At the end of the day we did what we could, with the support and foundation that we had.”
Hurtado has played football for three years and is currently a junior. He has been the leading linebacker for the team and also occasionally filled in the quarterback position.
The Eagles played some remarkably difficult non-league opponents such as Dominguez High School of Compton and Pacific High School of San Bernadino.