By Kaleb Youngren ‘21 and Kai Youngren ‘19, Staff Writers

As the fall sports season begins to wrap up, we would like to give a couple shout-outs to the particularly outstanding Middle School teams this year.  The first shout-out goes to the Newark Academy Middle School football team of ’14, who went undefeated for the first time in at least forty years.  The second shout-out goes to the Newark Academy girls tennis team, who went 9-2 in the season.  The final shout-out goes to the Newark Academy girls soccer squad, who finished 2-3-1.

Probably one of the most important achievements by any sports team has to be an undefeated season, and the Newark Academy football

 team definitely completed that feat.  Crushing everyone they faced, Matt Ciccone and his offense managed to score 18 touchdowns in just 5 games.  Spencer Glassman, a starting tackle, commented, “Our record is one of the greatest things to happen to Newark Academy,” and Will Hutchinson, starting wide receiver, said, “We dumped our heart and soul into the game– and came out victorious.”  Evidently, we can all learn from the Newark Academy MS football team of 2014 that with a little hard work and determination, you can turn anything around.  Last year the football team only won one game, and with the loss of the eighth graders, it was unlikely that the team would be successful this year.  To everyone’s shock, the football team went on to beat all their opponents, and take the first place spot, exhibiting true determination and teamwork.

Tennis has always been one of Newark Academy’s best sports, and this year the girls have definitely proved it.  Winning nine of their eleven matches, the Middle School girls tennis team exerted their dominance and superior skill over their competitors.  A near-perfect season impressed everyone in the Middle School; however, the girls believe that they can still do better.  Riya Shah, a veteran on the team, said,

“The season went well, but there’s always room for improvement.”  This thought is going through all the captains’ minds with the recent success of the football team.  Next year, the tennis team will strive to win and improve their already excellent team.  The tennis team has consistently demonstrated that the ideal squad possesses the qualities of hard work, desire, and passion.

Finally, the Middle School girls soccer team deserves the last shout out for their extreme perseverance out on the field.  With a shortage of experienced 7th graders, the team really lacked a strong starting eleven; however, the squad performed well throughout the season.  Usually every team has its stars that control the team; however, everyone on the Newark Academy MS girls soccer stepped up when they needed to.  Guilia Socolof, 8th grader and captain of the team, complimented, “It was a great season, the sixth graders stepped up and debuted their talent and the eighth graders demonstrated good leadership.”  Even though the girls didn’t put up extravagant numbers this season, they are great examples of Newark Aacdemy athletes and students, insofar as they represented Newark Academy and our values perfectly.

In summation, the Middle School fall sports season went very well this year.  All the teams, not only the three mentioned, played well and represented Newark Academy well. Once again, congratulations to these three teams for demonstrating admirable qualities, and good luck to them in the future.