For the second year in a row, the football team finished the season with a winning streak. They went 6-4 then 3-1 in districts, outscoring opponents 286 points to 203 points. The biggest win of the year was against Winter Springs with a 40-0 blowout on the Greyhound turf.
This is Coach Jermel Jones’ third season and football has seen changes for the better. This season is the second best record in over 18 years, bested by last year’s 7-3 record. Jones’s focus has been an emphasis on a sense of community and it has paid off.
The sense of family in the football team is why Ryan Mannor (12) decided to join the team in his last year: “The atmosphere of the team is definitely the highlight of my season.”
Not only was the atmosphere a growing highlight but so was winning. “The highlight of my season has to be winning the game against Lake Brantley,” Cameron Hemingway (12) said. “It was the first time we had beat them in over 15 years.”
As Lyman’s longtime rival, the game against Lake Brantley this year was the most anticipated of the season with student barstool Instagram accounts creating complications and memes of the opposing team. Lake Brantley was second on the schedule this year and it was at home.
The game was scoreless through the first three quarters; but, as the fourth quarter rolled around, Lake Brantley scored two touchdowns back-to-back. Adding fuel to the fire, Lyman pulled through, two-upping their rival with four touchdowns to seal the win.
After Lake Brantley, Lyman went on to win the next two games, and five of the eight remaining games. The team came up short against University, 42-21, to end the season for Greyhound football, but there are a ton of positive takeaways.
Football has been getting better year by year thanks to Coach Jones, and they are hoping to make a playoff push for the first time since the 2004 season. As for seniors this year, they are using what they learned from football to take into the real world.
“Next year I hope to have the same level of improvement,” Mannor said. “Who knows what I could get done if that happens.”
