Last Friday, the Fighting Farmers defeated Marcus for the first time at their home field with a final score of 17-14. The football team managed to bring the ax back home after losing it the year before.

“Not a lot of teams go from 2-8 to flipping their record,” senior AJ Newsome said. “That’s not an easy thing to do, so I’m definitely proud of [the team].”

Even though they faced struggles last week such as fumbles and turnovers, the football team still succeeded in scoring a field goal in the middle of the fourth quarter, which pulled them three points ahead of the Marauders.

“We knew if defense got the stop on just one play, then we were going to win [the game],” senior Nick Nielsen said. “They went all the way. We couldn’t have done a thing without [the whole team].”

The Fighting Farmer fans were on the edges of their seats. With barely a minute left in the game, Marauders were on their third down at the middle of the field.

“The last 30 seconds of the game was pandemonium and we were freaking out,” Nielsen said. “Then the defense stopped [Marcus] and we knew it was over. We won.”

After celebrating, the team used this week to improve on the offensive strategies before the playoff game against Keller.

“I was disappointed in the offense all together because we shouldn’t have put that much [pressure] on defense,” Newsome said. “We have to do better than that [against Keller].”

Football coach Jong Lee is proud of the players because they were able to stay focused and determined during last Friday’s game.

“[The team] understands what they play for and they play for pride,” Lee said. “They did a great job going out there and executing. It wasn’t the prettiest game but we got the ax back.”

Newsome and Nielsen both believe the Fighting Farmers have a chance against Keller High School and hope to go further into playoffs. The game starts at 7 p.m. at C.H. Collins Stadium in Denton.

“I [have] complete faith in my team,” Newsome said. “I know we’re gonna give it all we got. The big step for us is to win because for seniors it [could be] our last game [and losing is] not what we want.”