Losing is never easy. Whether it’s allowing the opposing team to score a game-winning goal in soccer or getting outkicked in a cross country race, taking a loss personally is likely to happen. For Ledyard’s football team, losing was not the end of the world. Players utilized their tough loss to push them to the state finals.

“I feel like the Bacon loss was definitely a wake-up call for all of us and it made us want to be better,” senior fullback Tannor Daggett said. “It made us realize as the seniors that this is our last season and that there is no next year and we just didn’t want to go out of this year with any what ifs or regrets.”

Regrets are one thing that Ledyard doesn’t associate with. After their 25-22 loss to Bacon Academy on Sept. 26, the Colonels have won eight straight games and avenged their loss to Bacon on Dec. 1 with a 55-6 victory.

“The Bacon loss definitely brought us together and motivated us. You ask any guy on the team about Sept. 26th and they’ll get sick to their stomach,” senior Daric Johnson said. “I think a big reason of why we started to work so hard in practice and why we had so much success in the rest of our games is because we all knew what it felt like to lose and how awful it felt and nobody on the team wanted to have to feel that again.”

Last season, the Colonels advanced to the state finals with a perfect record. The team returned from St. Joseph’s football field with the first loss of their season. Winning the state title this season is a goal for the young men.

“I can’t say the season played out the way we had expected. But for me it’s been better than expected,” senior Chris Cliett said. “As far as the state title goes, that is every sport team/s ultimate goal. We keep it as a goal in the back of our heads but always played one game, one week at a time and never thought about getting there until we are there.”

For the seniors, this marks the end of a long era. The boys have been playing together since youth league and a total of 18 seniors will be graduating. “It has been an amazing experience growing up with them and I feel like it has made us more successful as a team because we’ve been together for so long and we’ve built such good chemistry with each other,” Daggett said. “Playing in my last season, I don’t think I have really realized that it is just about over. It flies by.”

Unfortunately the Colonels fell to New Fairfield 13-0 on Monday night. They ended the season with a 10-2 record.

“We’ve come a long way as a group this year and this is definitely the closest team I’ve ever been a part of,” Johnson said. “We go into every game now knowing that no matter what happens, our teammates are going to have our back. We are all a big group of best friends, and it’s been one of the reasons for our success.”

Megan Brawner, Editor-in-Chief

Senior Megan Brawner is the Editor-in-Chief of the 2015-2016 Colonel. She is the captain of the cross country team and runs Indoor and Outdoor Track. She participates in Youth United for Global Action and Awareness (YUGA) Club and is the secretary of the Senior Class. She is the Editor of Key Club.