Greece Athena Football: Trojans turn to discipline after heartbreaking end to 2022

GREECE, N.Y. (WHEC) – Friday night football will soon be the center of attention. But right now, for Greece Athena football, it’s all about early morning practice. The Trojans start at 8 a.m., and want to get a head start on everyone else.

“It’s a game of sacrifice and ups and downs. We go early, before a lot of other teams do get going. For me, it tells how committed the kids are. They have a sense of discipline,” said head coach Mike Husdan.

“We take a lot of pride in that because we know that we want to be the hardest workers, and that’s what’s ultimately gonna take us to win a Sectionals title,” said junior Jacob Figler.

Of course, Greece Athena football is shooting for the Sectional title, but so is everyone else in Section V. In 2022, as the three seed, the Trojans lost a 50 to 48 game to Eastridge, on a last second field goal. They say they’ve put that behind them, but that isn’t to say they’re not learning from it.

“That was a heartbreaking experience and it’s an experience that we’re trained to never feel again,” said junior Byron Williams.

“It’s a learning lesson from last year and we’ve been preaching this offseason learning lessons from there and paying attention to detail and how even a little thing can have a big result,” said Husdan.

“That’s the reason why we work so hard, so like I said, we don’t feel that feeling again,” said Williams.

On paper, the Trojans should be in the mix again. It’s a much younger team than last year, but the unit as a whole, might be even stronger together.

“I feel like our team chemistry is actually better this year, because we all knew going into this season what challenge it would be, and we’re all brothers,” said Williams.

“I feel like our attitude this year is very positive, which is helping us work hard every rep, and get us ,hopefully, over those humps,” said Figler.

Greece Athena football starts their season at home against Irondequoit on Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.