As the 2025 NVD football season comes to a close, players are reflecting on the highs and lows that came from a year of hard work and determination. Despite facing tough competition and playing through injuries, the team demonstrated perseverance and showed their love and commitment to the sport.
Several players highlighted the game against Belleville as being their toughest matchup this season.
“The worst game this season was definitely Belleville,” junior Yousef Tabbakh said. “The game was really close the whole time and it was even the whole way. At the last play of the game, we went for a 2-point conversion–the quarterback, Joe Yun, threw the ball up to the receiver Drew Greenberg, he came down with the ball, caught it out of bounds, and we lost the game 26-27.”
Quarterback Joe Yun agreed that the Belleville game was a difficult one, but he also said that it showed the team’s determination.
“I think our best game was Belleville even though we lost because we played hard and we were really resilient,” Yun said. “It was unfortunate we didn’t convert on the last play, but I was super proud of the effort our team put in and our drive in that game.”
For Junior Yair Talmor, the loss against Belleville was disappointing but still came with an achievement.
“They were competitive and physical,” Talmor said. But he still looks back on the game with pride, “My best game was Belleville because I had an interception on defense and I played well on offense.”
Other challenges this season came from within the team itself, such as the injuries and lack of depth.
“The team struggled with injury and depth. We had zero depth,” Tabbakh said. “If a starter went down, we wouldn’t have a backup to go in.”
Yun shared similar thoughts, highlighting the main struggles and what could have been improved.
“Our team struggled with doing our jobs and doing too much at times,” he said. “That really messed up our assignments and ended up hurting the team,” Yun said.
Even with all the setbacks, players still tried their best for the team and the game.
“In the first quarter of the Belleville game I tore my lateral collateral ligament, but later in the third quarter I caught an interception that changed the game’s momentum. I pushed through for my teammates,” Tabbakh said.
