As we prepare for another exciting Friday under the lights, we have asked Minnesota high school students to share a game preview or season recap on their football team.
Brianna Cannon
Two Rivers
Maria Axinia
Two Rivers
The Two Rivers Warriors will continue their 2023 season with a new sense of determination.
This year, the football team switched up their playbook by introducing a new coach and mindset, and so far, it seems to be paying off. The Warriors split the first two games of the season, winning one and losing the other. This is already an improvement over last season when the Warriors started with two losses and ended the regular season with only one win.
One new change this year was the addition of co-head coach Bruce Carpenter, who came to the Warriors squad after coaching collegiate football for many years.
“Coach Carpenter created a massive impact this year. He just has a different style of coaching that led us to success. I totally feel like we are progressing forward than we have in the past,” junior captain Carter Garland said.
Along with Garland, senior Captains Max Mogelson and Riley Pearce expressed their excitement about the new energy this season.
“(Carpenter) compliments Coach Orth in a lot of different ways. I think that’s why this year we are stronger than ever,” Mogelson said.
From coaches to mindsets, the team has changed in many ways. The captains said they believe the change started with their newfound motivation.
“I want to leave this program better than it was when I entered freshman year. That's why I want to build such a team environment,” Pierce said.
The coaches and captains make sure to model this new growth mindset every practice and game.
“Anytime you play the game you want to win. The process to that point is what gives you the opportunity,” co-head coach Tom Orth said.
In trying to refine their game preparation, the team participated in summer training. They saw the pay-off in the first game against Minneapolis Southwest High School, winning 23-6.
“The summer training definitely paid off at our first game, and I strongly believe that everyone this year has the same motivation to keep going. As a team, we want to drive to success,” Pierce said.
From day-to-day interactions to big wins during the week, the Two Rivers football team will continue to work for a win, especially Saturday as they play at the TCO Performance Center against Harding/Humboldt/Open World Learning combined team.
Each week, we ask students to publish stories about their high school's football game on social media using the tag #studentsonthesidelines.
If you are a student journalist, get off the sidelines and share stories about your school’s high school football game. Just post your story on TikTok and tag us #studentsonthesidelines.
