By Koral Tucker, Staff Writer
With football season coming to an end, seniors Stephen Cash and Braxton Hughes are taking it day by day and trying to enjoy every single minute of their last moments with their team.
“It hasn’t really hit me super hard yet, but I think it will on Senior Night,” Cash said. “I’m just going to give it all I’ve got and I’m going to expect my teammates to do the same, and keep playing as long as we can in the playoffs.”
That might be a while. The Nighthawks had a 5-1 record before opening the conference season against Bertie the first Friday of October. In past years, the Nighthawks have competed well against Bertie, but this year, they suffered a 38-36 overtime defeat after losing a big lead.
The next week was Homecoming, against a Hertford County team the Nighthawks had never beaten.
“We practiced hard like usual, but everyone seemed more hungry for a win that week,” Cash said.
It was a happy Homecoming after First Flight finished off a 28-20 victory.
“Our biggest preparation I feel was affected by the loss the week before. We lost to Bertie in overtime and we shouldn’t have,” coach Jim Prince said. “So the team responded as a group to their own personal challenge that they didn’t want to lose two games in a row after starting the season off with such a great start.”
The players also were happy to make history.
“The team was extremely happy to beat Hertford for the first time ever,” Cash said. “It was definitely a rewarding feeling after all of the hard work we put through the whole year to finally be the first First Flight team to beat them. Our confidence after that game boosted really high and we knew we could be one of the best First Flight football teams ever.”
Cash and the players weren’t the only ones excited about their win. The team ran over to all of the fans, who showed their love for the team by joining together to congratulate them for their win.
“It was awesome,” Hughes said. “I’m proud to be a player on a team that is loved by the student body as much as it is. Having a student body that supports the team so much is an amazing thing.”
After the Hertford game, the Nighthawks beat Pasquotank on their homecoming night. After a video had surfaced on social media of the Pasquotank team burning the Nighthawk mascot at a bonfire, the boys were determined to win.
“We took offense to this, so we decided that we were going to make a statement, so we went out and beat them 47-0,” Hughes said.
Although their offensive plays were more than enough to secure a win, players argued that it was potentially one of the best defensive games First Flight football has ever played, only giving up 53 total yards.
“Everything has to do with how you’re going to come out and perform, and we came out firing on all cylinders that night,” Prince said. “Pasquotank never knew what hit them.”
Now 7-3 after a loss to league leader Northeastern, Senior Night is here, with rival Currituck High School. Currituck is always one of the biggest games of the season with students, staff, and parents coming out to show their support.
“We’ve always played well on Senior Night in the 10 years I’ve been here. It didn’t matter who we played, we still played well,” Prince said. “And a win (tonight) makes it a great season.”
Senior Night can bring back all the memories from past seasons and can also uncover the bonds that have been made as a team throughout their current season.
“All the things that we do together, whether it’s the camp when we spend the night at the school for three nights in the summer or practice, you get to know guys really well,” Prince said. “The way that this group of seniors has pulled together with the injuries, losing Mannon (Haynes), and three seniors quitting, this group, never once, have they looked back at that. They just continued to go forward and excel.”
For some, Senior Night can’t come soon enough, while others don’t want to mark the fact that this is their last home game being surrounded by teammates and peers who bring back memories.
“It’s bittersweet. I hate that the season is coming to an end, but I love the way we are ending it with wins like the Hertford game. We want nothing more than to go out with a win as seniors,” Hughes said. “I will miss most the true feeling of Friday nights and playing under the support of our student body and teammates. I will miss it all.”
Senior Night Honors for Football, Cheerleading and Band
- Football: Danielle Evers (trainer)
- Football: Kerrian Davis (manager)
- Football: Ben Maurice
- Football: Alex Urbina
- Football: Mannon Haynes
- Football: Caleb Drysdale
- Football: Trent Rokosh
- Football: Stephen Cash
- Football: Braxton Hughes
- Cheerleading: Kayla Chamorro
- Cheerleading: Ashley Mercer
- Cheerleading: Brigid O’Neil
- Cheerleading: Kayla Tucker
- Cheerleading: Scarlet Westenhiser
- Band: Carmen Chinchilla
- Band: Noah Howard
- Band: Miles Kasten
- Band: Brooke Kelly
- Band: Aaron Kohlhafer
- Band: Amber Laskowski
- Band: Karen Lopez
- Band: Mac McClary
- Band: Joey McNamara
- Band: Adam Morway
- Band: Zach Serfling
- Band: Ronnie Sunkler
- Band: Parker Swart
- Band: Sloan Tomblin
Junior Koral Tucker can be reached at tuckerko0523@daretolearn.org.
