Inside the Huddle: Playoffs for Sachem East

We did it. We are in the playoffs for the first time since I was a freshman, back when Joe Botti was running the offense. I remember back then attending my first Sachem football game ever on Halloween night, when they got their big win putting them right into the playoffs.

It was amazing. The energy, the atmosphere and everything about that game, was crazy. It was this moment in time when I fell in love with Sachem East football, and knew I had an interest in trying out for the team the following year. So now here we are four years later and I’m the one getting the big win on Friday night and celebrating my team clinching a playoff spot.

It’s crazy how much time has passed over the years, and I hope there was a young kid at the game last Friday just like I was four years ago, who left inspired and motivated to play this beautiful game of football.

Last week is irrelevant though, and we were back to work the next morning after the win at 9 a.m. We have had a fantastic week of practice, both defensively and offensively, preparing for West Islip’s schemes. Everyone on the team is fired up and excited as they very well should be.

This has been the biggest week of our football lives. It’s the first time any of us are experiencing the playoff atmosphere and energy. It truly is the biggest stage for us, as high school football players, and it is something I have dreamed about for three years now. The big stage of the playoffs has gotten even bigger for us now, as our game will be aired on television. So take the energy and excitement of the playoffs, and double that, and you’ve got the feeling inside of our locker room all week long.

The energy and enthusiasm has shown all throughout practice, especially with the defense. Those guys on the other side of the ball are really getting after it this week and the hits have come in plenty. Just the other day I was running scout offense and we were running a quarterback keep left. Only to have our backup quarterback, sophomore Danny Wolf, body slammed by Steve Casali. We have brought up a lot of the JV players to come down with us to playoffs and those guys are all practicing with us and running the scout team. I almost feel bad for some of them, because it’s their first taste of varsity football and they’ve got guys like Casali, and Joe Ryan knocking them back to pop warner. This is the kind of stuff that making the playoffs does to you, I’m not saying the practices we have had all year haven’t been intense, but this week we have brought a little extra enthusiasm with us day in and day out.

Back to West Islip, everyone’s asking me what I think about them, and here it is: they are a great football team that is very well coached, very similar to us. I have a ton of respect for their football program and everything that they have accomplished. Yeah, we lost big to them on homecoming. Does that do anything for my level of confidence coming into this? Not at all. We have watched hours of film on them and I trust and believe that our game plan is going to get the job done on Saturday. I love all these guys, and there isn’t a game I would go into without confidence in, because I know that we all have each other’s back and I know what we are all capable of.

A lot of people that I know have doubted us saying we don’t stand a shot, after what happened on homecoming. But you know what, people have doubted us from day one, and here we are now in the first round of the playoffs. One of the reasons we have been successful, is because we don’t let outside opinions into our locker room, and we don’t let them disrupt what we’re trying to accomplish. As long as the 11 men on the field at the time believe we are going to win, and believe in each other, we will be fine.

Our goal from the beginning of the season has not been to make playoffs; it’s been to win the championship. Here we are with the first step to that goal complete, but like I just said, it’s only the first step. We still have a while to go, and we don’t plan on ending our season this Saturday. It’s the playoffs and anything can happen. We all believe in ourselves, and know that we can pull it out this Saturday. The real question is, do you? If so please come down and support your sixth-seeded Sachem East in the first round this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in West Islip. If you can't make it, follow the action live after the game on Sachem Patch, of course.

CJ Everson is a senior lineman at Sachem High School East.