Finishing the season with an overall record of 7 – 4 and a conference record of 5 – 2, Cary-Grove’s football team hangs up the helmets and takes some time off to reflect back on the 2013 season.

While some players jump right back into a different sports season, other take the time off to focus on other things such as school, work, or more conditioning for next year’s football season. For the seniors, this was their last year being a Cary-Grove football player and coach Seaburg regarded their season highly.

“I felt that it was a good season and our guys worked very hard,” Coach Seaburg said. “They were a lot of fun to be around and we didn’t win as many games as we would have liked to but at the end of the day, we had the normal Cary-Grove kids that work hard and give their best.”

Finishing strong in conference, Cary-Grove did not have the odds in their favor as player after player continued to get injured early on in the season.

“The injuries hurt us two ways: one, they took away our depth so instead of having two or three guys at a position, we may have had only one guy at a position ready to play varsity football,” Coach Seaburg said. “The other reason they hurt was that it forced a lot of guys to step into roles immediately as opposed to when they may or may not have been ready to play varsity football. But by the same token, even though there were negatives that came with the injuries, there were probably more positives in that it allowed other guys the opportunity to play and step and show what they can do.”

And that they did. Injuries did not keep the boys from having an exciting season. After a rocky start with two losses, the Trojans started on their normal winning streak and continued to keep their heads held high throughout the rest of their conference season.

Every game had one moment – one play – that made all the difference in what the final score turned out to be. This idea could be seen clearly during the game against Huntley when junior Larkin Hanselmann had a game-altering catch that led the Trojans to victory. Of all the moments in the season, Coach Seaburg said that night is one he is most proud of.

“Huntley was 2-0 and there was a lot of excitement about that game,” he said. “The way that we won it, in a pretty exciting fashion, was probably the highlight of the year.”

A team like Cary-Grove’s is not a bunch of athletes just thrown together. From day one, they have worked hard together as a unit in order to have the best season they could.

“From the time that we left for Whitewater to the time that we finished the season, our team really came together and improved just about every week,” Coach Seaburg said. “Even though we didn’t have as many seniors as we have had in the past, the seniors we did have were every bit as committed and every bit as hard-working as any other seniors we’ve had.”

On the topic of seniors, next season is already on coach Seaburg’s mind as he thinks about next year’s crop of boys.

“We’re excited about the guys coming back but we know that there is a lot of time between now and August where there’s a lot work that needs to be done,” he said.

Each year is a new season with a new team. Although the 2013 season is over with and seniors will be graduating, the strong tradition of what Cary-Grove football stands for will live on year after year.