Freshman team has gone undefeated since 7th grade
HANNIBAL, MO. -- It's extremely hard to go undefeated in any sport throughout one entire season.
But how about doing it for three?
With a 34-6 victory over the Mexico Bulldogs yesterday the Hannibal Pirates Freshman football team has gone undefeated since the 7th grade.
That's right, throughout their 7th, 8th and 9th grade seasons, those kids have not lost a single football game.
KHQA's Jarod Wells tried to find out why their so unbeatable.
The majority of the kids on Hannibal freshman football team have been huddling up, kicking off, practicing and playing together since the 7th grade. With their freshman season now over and another undefeated record chalked up, they aren't used to losing.
Center and Defensive End Jordan Wilson said, "Coaches just keep us focused. They don't put anybody down. We're all determined to be out here and give 100% of effort."
Quarterback and outside linebacker Lijah Harrison said, "A lot of people think that our running backs are really good because that's all they see in the news paper, but really it starts up front. The lineman on the offense and defense, they're working their butts off getting it done."
Coach Ted Sampson said, "We just have a lot of hard working kids in this group. We have several kids at every position. We have about 4 or 5 good running backs that we can put in at any point in time and trust. This group really trusts each other on the field offensively and defensively."
Practicing right across from Coach Mark St. Clair's varsity Hannibal Pirates, the kids are excited about strapping it up underneath the lights on Friday nights.
Harrison said, "I'm pretty excited. I wish I could go down there now. Not quite there yet, they're pretty big, but yeah I'm definitely excited."
Wilson said, "I'm ready, I just think they have a bunch of size on us. We just have to get bigger and get in the gym and get some more muscle on us."
Sampson said, "If they continue to work hard in the off season and improve at the rate that they did this year, than the limits are endless really."
Success like this isn't anything new to varsity head coach Mark St. Clair.
In his 22 year tenure at Hannibal High school, 13 of which are as head coach, he has seen three classes go undefeated from 7th to 9th grade, including this one.
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