The 2017 season has a lot of potential for the Imagine Prep Varsity football team. This year the  team has moved from 8-man to 11-man. Bringing bigger challenges. Even though things have started rough the coaches and team have high hopes for this season.

Imagine Prep teacher and assistant coach, James Mould, believes that the Prep has a good chance to win many games. He also believes the team will succeed based on the leadership of the senior class.

“Well we have lost two games so far, honestly I don’t see us losing more than one more game for the rest of the season,” Mould said. “Going 5-3 all season is a very strong muscle point.”

Imagine Prep has grown in size, as far as student population goes, over the past few years. This uptick in size has led the football team to move from 8-man to 11-man. That 11-man change definitely raised a lot of questions for the team and fans.

Sophomore Bryan Grant, a former Arizona Charter Academy student, explained how moving up to 11-man has affected him personally on the field.   

“Well this is my first year here but I did play 8-man at ACA. I feel like 11-man is more experienced like instead of just 8-man, one-on-one, not everyone’s getting their shine, but when it’s 11-man there’s a bigger field, bigger plays, and we’re gonna look good out there,” Grant said.

While the switch to 11-man hasn’t been the smoothest transition, the team is getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

“For the players it’s been a little bit more difficult just because different concepts or responsibilities, but I think they’re adjusting pretty well,” Mould said.

This year the seniors have big shoes to fill being the leaders of the team, and showing the younger players the way on and off the field.  

“We have a lot of senior leadership and I think that’s really good,” Mould said. “The experience and guidance they bring to the field is extremely helpful.”

Abel Alexandru, a senior on the team, spoke about his role in the classroom and with the younger players.

“I’m an example for the younger high school students. I show great leadership, attributes, and responsibilities. I also try to show them how to treat and respect teachers and authority figures around the school,”Alexandru said.

Ahmed Hasan is one of the many seniors on the team that play a key role on the field and in the halls of Imagine Prep.

“Being a senior means people look up to me, so I have to be at my best the whole time. I’m a leader and a role model to everyone so I can be remembered as someone who they loved and played well,” Hasan said.

While the team still has much to work on, they have great leaders and even greater coaches that will take them far into the season. The Storm is currently four games into the season going 1-3 so far. The Storm’s next game will be the homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Glendale Youth Sports Complex. Homecoming royalty will be announced at halftime of the game as well.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Hallie Parke

A Storm football player gets tackled in a game played on Sept. 22. The Storm came out with the win in that game.