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Shannon Forbes

The freshman football team lines up during their win against Central.

Talented football teams have come and gone at LHS over the years, but there is something about this year’s young team that stands out from the rest.

“Well to be completely honest, I think we are the best team in the state,” said star slotback and middle linebacker Tyler Kayo. “All we know is to win.”

This year’s freshman team is off to a historic 7-0 start and will look to make it eight straight victories on the road against the Manchester Memorial Crusaders on Thursday at 5:30.

“We’re playing with confidence and flying around,” said the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator Coach Case. “It’s been fun to coach this group and see what we can do.”

A big part of this undefeated run was the crucial 42-20 victory against their biggest rival the Pinkerton Astros on their home turf. So far this season the boys have scored a whopping total of 316 points while only surrendering 124 points to their opponents.

While it may look like the wins are coming easy for these boys, this team practices hard every day after school for hours.

“We work real hard in practice, and it just transfers over to the field,” Kayo said. “We all work hard and well together.”

JV and varsity coaches have also been keeping their eyes on this team’s success, looking especially at the three freshman captains, center and middle linebacker Cooper Bartlett, running back and outside linebacker Jeff Wiedenfeld, and quarterback and cornerback Jake McEachern, who have all suited up for the last few varsity games.

While the freshman teams don’t particularly attract the same kind of attention that varsity teams do, they have managed to fill the fan section with anxious parents and animated students.

“It’s fun to watch our team play,” Case said. “When we beat Pinkerton there was probably 600 people there.”

Case believes the freshman team “is what the future of our program is.”

And for a team who works so well together and has an undefeated record? The future does look bright.

“We all love each other,” Kayo said. “We truly believe that this is a family.”