These Northwest athletes have been on the same team since they learned to kick a ball, and for the first time, they are separated. Northwest High School has now transferred to having two J.V. football teams, the A team and the B team. The decision resulted from an exponential increase in student interest in J.V. football. According to head coach Coran Sharar, this year, the team added approximately fifteen more people to the program than they would usually have. With this extra interest, the coaches decided to add another team to the program.

   According to Coach Sharar, “We’ve always wanted to have three levels of football: Varsity, J.V., and freshmen. We ended up doing J.V.,  A, and B, though,” said Sharar. 

   The vast majority of people like the idea of two teams. Freshman Jaden Corrigan, an A team member, has been playing football for Northwest since he became eligible for the youth program, which begins in third grade. “I think it’s better to have two teams. That way, we don’t have fifty kids all on one team not getting any playing time,” said Corrigan.

   When asked, most, if not all, students are accepting of the two teams; however, having two teams appears to be more popular with A team players, as they have a surplus of people. While at the same time, the B team is struggling to fill all positions. 

   In past years, there has been the issue of too many players on the J.V. football team. So, coaches and players jumped at the opportunity to have two J.V. teams; however, the question is, does Northwest High School have enough players to put each team on an even playing field?

   Even though there was a lot of interest in football, there is a shortage of players on the B team. They did not have many players to begin with and have lost some since the start of the season. Some players quit, were moved up to the A team, and some are on academic probation. 

   Academic probation is placed on all freshmen with the expectation that they will maintain a 2.0 grade point average. Multiple players on the B team are academically ineligible, including sophomores, who are not on probation but are still ineligible due to their own academic expectations of maintaining a C average.

   “It’s hard to play on the B team because there’s a shortage of players. Sometimes at practice, we have to have coaches playing quarterback, and we just change positions depending on where we’re needed,” said Zane White, a Freshman B team member. 

   Zane plays a myriad of different sports. He broke his ankle earlier in the year playing basketball and is working hard to make a full recovery.

   They did not have a definitive tryout for each team; instead, they chose players based on what each team needed to succeed.

   According to Coach Sharar, “We didn’t really hold a tryout. The boys got their pads (football equipment), and we just made the decisions from there,” said Sharar. 

   The two teams work together during practices, and the spots on the teams are not permanent. 

   White says, “Some practices we work a lot with the A team, and sometimes we don’t; some B team and A team members change teams depending on the games. The spots aren’t set in stone.” 

   Corrigan also spoke on this subject. “Some A team members were even moved up to varsity, and some B team members moved up to the A team. It’s a great way to give everyone playing time instead of just not playing,” said Corrigan. 

   The J.V. cheer team only cheers for the A team. When asked how he feels about this, White said, “It’s kind of expected. I understand it because I wouldn’t want to cheer for two teams for six hours. Just standing and cheering,” said Corrigan. 

   The common opinion on this subject is that the J.V. Cheer Team should cheer for both teams. However, J.V. cheer started in June, and football team decisions were not made until August. So the possibility of two cheer teams was out of the question. Originally, the football team was going to have a freshman team and a J.V. team. The athletic director and the J.V. cheer coach came to the decision that cheer would only cheer for the J.V. team, as opposed to the freshman team and the J.V. team. The news of the two J.V. teams didn’t come in time to prepare for cheering for two teams. 

   Some of the cheerleaders don’t share the sentiment of the students and players who think it’d only be fair to cheer for both teams. 

   “I like that we don’t cheer for both teams because it can be a lot, cheering for six hours. The B team rarely has a crowd or student section. It makes me feel bad, but I also don’t want to cheer for a small crowd,” said J.V. cheerleader, Freshman Kennedy Krutsch.

   Cheering for two games would definitely be a grueling task, but the main debate is whether it is their job to cheer for both teams or only for the team that was originally agreed upon.

   The teams also have captains, who were chosen by popular vote. Coach Sharar described his voice when it comes to captains as “51%,” meaning he has the ultimate say in who captains the teams. The A team captains include Freshman, Mason Tilford, and Sophomores, Fletcher Lounds and William Billinghurst. And the B team captains are Freshmen Tae’veair Walters and River Barret. 

   The A and B teams played one game together on a special occasion and won by working together as a unified program. So far this season, the B team has faced a 0% win rate, while the A team has a 66% win rate. The players on the B team certainly are talented, though their shortage of players may pose a challenge for them this season. As they say, there is safety in numbers, and currently, the B team is in a dangerous territory.