Ignoring criticisms, Puma football has gone farther than any had imagined this season. Being only their second year in division-1, the varsity team surpassed expectations to qualify for the first round of playoffs against Brophy. Although they did not continue to the second game in playoffs, this group of dedicated young men has shown an immense amount of improvement from the previous years.

Puma quarterbacks have been dominating the field with rushing touchdowns, succeeding touchdown receptions in almost every game. Additionally, junior linebacker Case Hatch and senior running back Brock Heffron lead the team in tackles. Within a single game against Highland, the team managed 109 tackles, as well as five interceptions from Mountain Ridge in late September. Pumas took 3275 yards throughout the regular season and gave up only 3083 yards with a win-loss ratio of 5-5 before playoffs.

Senior quarterback Austin Nightingale has continued to prove his spot as star quarterback and Perry’s most profitable player throughout the season, after returning from a eight-month recovery of a torn ACL in the 2013 season. Nightingale exceeds the national average in every category and maintains the reputation that he is exactly as everyone believes. He describes his injury saying, “My left leg planted into the ground right before I got out of bounds; the guy hit me and everything just kind of went opposite ways.”

Despite hard losses,negative comments, previous season ending injuries, the varsity squad has come out on top. The players went further than any year before, by making the division-1 playoffs. With the season’s end, coaches and players are ready to relax and gear up for the fast-coming 2015 term.