The 2013 football season didn’t start as the team had hoped.  This young team hopes to grow with experience, to find the strength to continue improving this season, and to think ahead to next year.

Junior quarterback and co-captain, Billy Burger, encourages his teammates “to keep working hard and good things will eventually happen.”

This season senior Bamasa Bailor and junior Deonte Ramsey moved from wide receivers to running backs, which Head Coach Josh Oswalt considers as the team’s “best move.”

The players spent a lot of time in the off season weight lifting, running drills, and spending time together as a team. Underclassmen Marcus Reese, Jimmy Steal ,Jacob Clegg, Grant Shugart, and Zion Patterson have stepped up to fill in holes due to injuries suffered by upperclassmen.

Alumni, dedicated fan, and former Carlisle football quarterback, Mike Knox, notes from experience that this team has “young players gaining experience” which in a year or two will “make them more competitive in a tough conference.”  The team feels that fan support is important to the team.

As Bailor said “[The fans] are great.  It’s always great to know that you have the backing up of the fans and they can really change the outcome of the game.”

Looking ahead to the end of the season and next year, Coach Oswalt believes “If [the players] play our [style] of football they will win games.”

Coach Bill Owens notes that the team needs to “limit turnovers” and make the “key plays at crucial times in the game.”

With eight seniors leaving this year and a remaining forty-one players, the team feels it will need to step up and have a positive attitude everyday on and off the field.

The Thundering Herd will have to count on “good full weeks of practices and having both offense and defense show up ready to play the way we can on Friday nights,” said Burger.

If they come ready to play, fans will continue to cheer as they enjoy watching the team grow and become stronger year to year.