On Saturday November 7, the Eleanor Roosevelt Raiders beat the Parkdale Panthers 38-22. The game also happened to be Raiders’ senior day. Scoring four touchdowns in the first half of the game, they Raiders quickly gained a 24-0 lead and eventually ended the game with a 38-22 win. 

Sentimental feelings spread among the seniors, with this being their last home game and regular season game before moving on to playoffs. Senior RJ Rountree said “it is sad because playing high school football is one the best things in life because you build a lifelong bond with your teammates and you make many memories so it sucks to know it is all coming to an end.” Senior Juwan Rodriguez agreed saying, “it is kind of sad realizing that after four years that was my last time playing on that field. It just brought back a lot of memories.”

Rountree and Rodriguez said they believed they had something to prove. “I feel we did well as a team because we made it farther than everyone thought we would since everyone doubted us,” said Rountree. Similarly, Rodriguez said “I feel we accomplished a lot, many people thought that we wouldn’t make it to the playoffs this year.” He went on, saying “since we graduated so many seniors last year, but we came through and proved them all wrong.”

As the team prepares for the long road ahead of them in playoffs, senior Jaelan Jean said the team is “working hard preparing for Duval.” Rountree said “were pretty much doing the same thing we have been doing since January just working hard and staying focused on our main goal of winning states.”  

The team will begin their road to states in a challenging game against the Duval Tigers on November 14th at 1pm, at Duval High School.