Hello readers of The Enterprise, I am Nick Gray, a senior at St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown. I am the starting tight end for the football team here at Ryken, and it has been an exciting last week for us from a football standpoint.

Last week, on Oct. 5, we played Bishop Walsh High School, a team from Cumberland, in our first homecoming game under our new head coach Jerry Franks.

It was by far the most successful homecoming game we have ever had since Ryken football started six years ago.

We beat previously 5-0 Bishop Walsh 42-0 and, needless to say, this was a huge step for us as a program and as a team.

For me, it was a special moment, as I have seen three other homecoming games played during my four years at Ryken I played in one and this was the only homecoming where I saw our team come together and play out of pride for ourselves and our school.

I would like to thank everyone who came to the game that night and became a part of a special game. The fact that the stands were filled with kids from our school, cheering us on, was something that I am not used to.

While I have been at Ryken, the majority of the things that I have heard about the football team have been bad. Nobody has ever believed in us, nobody has ever thought that we were going to win and many people have laughed in our faces.

After last Friday night, I do not think that anybody can laugh at us now.

Tonight, we play Avalon High School at home as we attempt to go 4-3 and get above .500. Our goal for the year is to finish 7-3 and we do not plan to disappoint ourselves.

If you can, come out to the game this Friday. It will be another good game and another special moment for St. Mary’s Ryken football.

Nick Gray

St. Mary’s Ryken senior