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NS football has had an interesting season thus far. They’ve had plenty of ups and downs, but despite a losing record, head coach Rhett Bird is not disappointed with how his first season with the Hawks turned out.
“When you look at wins and losses, it’s easy to say to say that we haven’t had success,” Bird said. “[However,] one of the biggest things we’ve seen as coaches among our players, is unity.”
NS ended September with a dominant win on homecoming over region opponent Richfield, 40-6, bringing their region record to 1-2
“We were really able to beat their run defense,” Bird said. “We knew that they had nine people in the box, trying to stop our run game, but we were still able to have a lot of success [in that area].”
Just one week later, the Hawks fell to Juab 6-26. NS struggled especially on the offensive end, and didn’t score in the second half.
“Juab is a really good team,” assistant coach Andre Rainey said. “They had a great gameplan against us, and we didn’t play well up front. We’re never one to make excuses, we’ve had some injuries in key positions, but what it came down to was the line of scrimmage, and [Juab] controlled it.”
NS has been missing some key starters for the majority of the season, including junior running back Shawn Taylor, and junior quarterback Spencer Steadmon. Taylor returned in the loss to Juab, and Steadmon returned at the game against Canyon View Thursday.
“We’re to the point where any game we play is do or die,” Bird said. “It’s kind of hard coming back from an injury, [because] you’re a few steps behind all the other guys. So we’re taking it day by day with Spencer.”
“[As we prepare for Canyon View,] we’re just trying to fine-tune some of the things we’ve been working on,” Rainey said. NS fell to Canyon View 27-30, with a last second field goal flying just right, giving the Hawks a 1-4 region record.
“From a cultural and attitude standpoint, we couldn’t have asked for a better season,” Rainey said. “Coach Bird has done a phenomenal job at putting us in a good position to come together as a team. He’s got some great things he’s doing, and the [players] are really buying in.”
