The End of An Era
By Colin Murphy and staff
411,130,063 seconds. 6,852,167 minutes. 4,758 days.
That’s how long it had been since Roosevelt Football took down a suburban school.
4,758 days of Roosevelt being stuck in the perception of being “Good, but good for a DMPS school.”
4,758 days of hearing Suburban students talk poorly about Roosevelt. And after a big night it’s looking like a change might be in motion.
To start off the 2021 season, Roosevelt High School blew out East High School 47-0 to start off the season right. But they had bigger things in mind, the next week they had a chance to make history... They played Waukee High School, one of the powerhouses of Iowa athletics. And all the Roosevelt football team could think about was ending this miserable streak of losing to Suburban schools.
137 games, that’s how many times a DMPS school had lost in a row to a suburban school. And Roosevelt was well aware of this streak. “Our team was well aware of this long streak Roosevelt and the rest of DMPS had, and we wanted to break it, make history,” Varsity starter Jack Armstrong said. Roosevelt Football knew the weight behind this game and knew the ripple a win this big could have on the community.
“Waukee had a lot to lose, and we knew they felt the pressure, we needed to just go out there keep our composure and treat this game like any other, we couldn’t let the pressure get to us,” said Armstrong.
The day came for Roosevelt Football to try and make history. They showed up to Waukee’s stadium, seeing and hearing all the away fans chatter and trash talk, Roosevelt tried to not let it get to them. Roosevelt came out with excitement at the opportunity, they played hard, back and forth drives from each team keeping it a close game. The score at halftime, 13-3, Roosevelt.
RoughRiders Head Coach, Jared Barnett, made it clear to the RoughRiders that this game was nowhere near over, and that this team needed to keep grinding and playing like they were down, Roosevelt went back out with their heads high and the spark of hope they could really do it. Roosevelt came out with some great offensive drives led by Quarterback Jamison Patton and they managed to score again.
Roosevelt defense held Waukee to zero more points, and when the fourth quarter clock ended, fans could see the excitement on the players faces. They did it. They broke the streak.
“Being at that game will be one of my favorite memories of my High School years, seeing that game in person and seeing the streak as old as me end was very exciting,” senior at Roosevelt High School Tanner Short said.
This game held a lot of weight and the RoughRiders winning gave a lot of people a memory they won't forget. The impact this game had gave so many students hope that a new change was to come, that money and location has nothing to do with winning football games, anyone can do it, and hopefully Roosevelt will gain the respect around the state, that they are not just good for a DMPS team, they are a good team.