By Jordan Dalton
Staff Writer
“The competition is a lot tougher. The teams are a lot stronger. Our team has had to step up and com- pete,” junior football player Jacob Fowler said.
The move to 3A is helping varsity athletes in other ways too. Better competition can often lead to more recognition. Promising athletes in 3A tend to get more acknowledgment for their work due to more competitive opponents. The increased recognition gives players a higher chance of getting their name out and potentially competing for a college scholarship.
Over the summer, Northwood made the shift from the Carolina 12 to the Big Eight in the 3A confer- ence. The transition came as result of Northwood’s population growth.
The football and boys’ soccer team each finished in the upper half of the Big Eight Conference stand- ings. Most coaches and players remain optimistic about the move to 3A and have a positive outlook on what the future of Northwood sports will be.
Some coaches and players say they have taken ad- vantage of the move and pushed themselves to meet expectations.
“In a way [the move] will help with recruiting, but if we stayed in 2A we could’ve gone farther in the playoffs,” sophomore soccer player Angel Rosas said.
“This year we [have] focused on trying our best and actually improving on our skills [and] trying
to win our matches. I like the move to 3A. It gives us more competition and it gives us all a chance to work harder,” sophomore tennis player Maya Schuler said.
“I like more competition actually, as far as [the players] knowing where they have to be to compete with the best schools,” tennis coach Joseph Kiertekles said.
Some athletes like Rosas believe that the move to 3A is actually holding them back from greater success in the playoffs. The better, more athletic 3A players are proving to be much stronger playoff opponents than those faced in 2A. Both the football and boys’ soccer team suffered early exits from the playoffs this season.
The transition to the Big Eight has been hard on some teams, but coaches and players say it has also helped them to improve and get better. The move was successful in giving players something to prove: they should not be overlooked.
As the school continues to grow, it is hopeful that Northwood’s athletic program will continue to improve with an increased student population.
“In our move to 3A, we were a big shocker to people because we actually performed the opposite of how people expected us to. We proved them wrong,” senior football player Dimitri Nobles said. “Getting moved up didn’t hurt us. It actually helped us. We proved to people that Northwood is something to be reckoned with.”
The girls’ tennis team had a conference record of 5-7 compared to last year’s 11-3 record and strug- gled against conference teams like Cardinal Gibbons.
The football team, similar to the girls’ tennis team, now has to face more competitive teams in 3A.
“The schools that we’re playing now are a lot more athletic than the teams that we’ve played in the past. If we would’ve stayed in 2A with the talent we have this year I think that we would’ve dominated,” Nobles said.
“There is no part of me that wishes we were still in 2A,” football coach Bill Hall said. “People talk about opening a new high school. My philosophy is to let Northwood grow. We have all this land here, add to the building, do what we got to do, but let Northwood grow.”
