MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The Fieldale Ducks' first game of the season resulted in a loss but head coach Troy Odell said the outcome didn’t really matter to his group of high schoolers who thought they wouldn’t see a fall season.
“Most of the time when kids lose, they’re mad or sad,” Odell said. “These kids were just happy to be out there.”
The team is playing as an independent and is made up of kids from rival high schools in the Southside.
“Well, I mean, everyone in this area grows up together. Everyone knows everyone, so there’s not too much into it,” Martinsville quarterback Troy Odell Jr. said. “At first, a lot of people weren’t coming, we didn’t think we’d have a team. Then a lot of people saw us play our first game and said they wanted to play. Just one after another coming through.”
But this isn’t the first time these guys have played together. In fact, the inspiration to form the team came from a childhood memory.
“We used to have an all-star team when we were little, we were talking about doing the same thing, we all got together, talked to my dad about it, and he was like why not? So we got a team together,” Odell Jr. said.
And that just made this fall season sweeter.
“It feels like we’re a big family from down here, to grow up. Just a family,” Bassett defensive end Colby Hairfield said.
“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Odell added. “I started the Ducks when a lot of these kids were seven, for them to come back and play their junior or senior year, it’s pretty neat for them to do that.”
Looking ahead to the spring with games under their belt, it seemed like the schools in the Southside will have some players to be reckoned with.
“Some people ain’t working like us, we’re out here hitting with pads,” Hairfield said. “So we’re going to be ready.”
“The thing is, everyone who plays with us this year, whoever plays for the team, they’re going to be on top,” Odell Jr. added.
But for now, they’ll keep up their longstanding tradition of being the boys of fall.