The Mclean High School football team has gone from second to last in their district to the third best in the district. They increased their rank by almost 200 places in Virginia and had a huge increase in yard and touchdown totals. It has been a massive change from last year’s season.
The Highlanders finished with an 8-2 record this season compared to last year’s record of 1-9. In the one game they won last year, they posted yard and point totals similar to those that the team is averaging this year. However, in nearly all the other games, they posted below-average outputs of yards and didn’t score over 14 points once. This year, the team has only had one game under 230 yards and 3 games under 14 points, only one of those games was a loss
Several factors have helped the team improve; one is a singular player. Kaelan Ferris is averaging nearly 120 rushing yards per game and nearly two touchdowns per game. He is a senior but he did not play for the team last year and has clearly made a huge impact on the team.
“Kaelan Ferris is a great player and is very helpful for the team,” said 8th grade Cody B., who follows the games closely as his brother is on the team.
Another major impact has been the emergence of the passing game. This year, the team is averaging about 21 passing attempts per game. That’s up from about 15 passing attempts per game last year, according to the few games where that stat was recorded.
“We certainly are throwing [the ball] a lot more than we used to,” said Head Coach Joseph Cockerham.
Cockerham gives a lot of the credit to another player, junior starting quarterback Ethan Ball. “He’s a really good athlete,” said Cockerham.
However, changes to the team happen not just on the field, but off it also. This was the first offseason for Head Coach Cockerham, and he believes it held lots of importance.
“The key to success this year has been the kids buying into the community and buying into how we want to play football here,” said Coach Cockerham.
The team has bought into how the coaches want them to play—aggressive and motivated. The team’s motivation this season has been to prove people wrong and change the narrative that McLean always has a bad football team. A point of emphasis for the team that has worked well for them.
The team’s great season came to an end when they lost in the playoffs to Herndon on the 10th of November, and their season ended with a hard-fought game that was only lost by 1 touchdown.
The season may be over but the future is bright, with only a small chunk of the team being seniors. The improvement that the MHS football team made can be attributed to many things, and with the momentum gained from this season, there could be a District championship awaiting the school in the future.
