Mason Cappelli is a senior at Struthers High School. He is a starter and plays as a defensive back on the Struthers Wildcat football team. He has been playing football for 13 years but isn’t going to continue playing football in college.
The football team made it into the playoffs and they matched up with the Girard Indians for the first round. They already played them earlier in the season and won with a score of 35-28 which lead the Wildcats with a record of 3-1.
Cappelli expresses the challenges of the game.
“In my opinion, the game shouldn’t have been as close as it was; however, it’s always hard playing a team twice since they know our play-style. So yes, it was a bit more difficult,” says Cappelli.
Cappelli’s thoughts were like everyone’s on the football team. When you play a team twice, it can face challenges since you have already faced them. They use the same tactics and look over the film and see how they can improve.
Cappelli approaches the game with strong goals.
“The way I play on Friday nights is always determined by how focused I am during the week of practice prior. Something that determines how focused I am is the coaches. They do a lot for the team when prepping for our games,” says Cappelli.
Cappelli’s main focus for the game is to have the right mindset when it’s Friday night lights. When it’s Friday night, all he can focus on is getting into the best state so he can play his best. When it comes to playoffs, that is one of the best things that he can do so then they can pull off a win.
Cappelli is enthusiastic for the next weeks rival game.
“I’m excited, our last match up ended in a OT loss by one point. So I think the team and I are ready to come back and show them who’s truly the better team,” says Cappelli.
The Wildcats will be facing the Poland Bulldogs again in the playoffs on November 3rd. That will be a big game for the Wildcats since they lost to the Bulldogs the first time they played them in OT with the final score of 28-27. But the Wildcats have faith with the student sections always cheering “Pump it up.”
