By Ameena Stringer, Staff Writer
Highschool football is such an exciting experience: the electric atmosphere with cheering fans, halftime performances by the cheerleaders, and intense matchups between rival schools. It’s a fun way to support your school and create lasting memories. However, the reality of high school football beyond the Friday night lights isn’t as glorious. The annual Battle of the Strip pitting Mills Vikings against rival Capuchino Mustangs on the field–an event highly anticipated by SMUHSD students alike–was suddenly canceled on November 3rd, 2023.
Overall, this year was a better year than the 21-22 and 22-23 seasons for the Mills Vikings, with the previous endings being 0-8 (no wins) or 4-6 (4 wins) respectively. This year we had a 5-5 score, with 5 games lost and 5 games won, exceling those years. The improvement was attributed to the players’ dedication throughout the season’s practices, as well as the enhanced team spirit and community. Some standout athletes this season included Ghanim Mashni (12) for having 3 interceptions over two games, as well as Justin Kang (12) for carrying out a touchdown with only 4 seconds left in a game, resulting in a dramatic win against Saratoga.
Nearing the end of the season, the traditional Battle of the Strip, an annual competition between Mills and Capuchino takes place. Unlike any other football event of the season, students from both schools put in the extra mile to support their respective teams in taking down their rivals and taking home the win.
But this year, out of left field, the Mills Vikings forfeited The Battle of the strip, causing a stir with Capuchino and other affected students. A decision was made for a purpose none of us, especially being caught up in the moment, would have understood. That is, until now.
Ethan Vuong (12), one of Mills’ varsity captains, remembers what prompted the discussion: “[After a rough second to last game against Cupertino] We tallied up all of the remaining “healthy” bodies and we came up with 14.” Vuong emphasized that the term “healthy” was to be taken lightly in this instance.
“Many of those 14 had lingering injuries that they could’ve theoretically played through, but not against Capuchino…They [Capuchino] had size and numbers. On their varsity team alone they have around 50 players,” Vuong finished.
Alongside injuries and sickness, numbers have been an overlapping problem with the Mills football team. The Mills varsity team struggled to field a team against Capuchino, who refused to play a varsity game unless Mills played varsity. Mills attempted to include sophomores in the varsity team, but the captains and teammates realized this would result in far too many unwarranted injuries.
In efforts to compromise with Capuchino, the Mills Vikings offered to continue with a JV game. However, Capuchino refused to comply stating that it defeated the spirit of their Senior Night. Taking into careful consideration the few students they had, a vote was held amongst the JV and Varsity football team; it was a team decision to call off the big game. Everyone was disappointed that day but Mills Football players took everything into account and there was no division in the discussion.
The Mills football team faced an intense amount of backlash after their decision was made, many viewing the abrupt forfeit as the team “chickening out” of the match against Capuchino. Despite this, the team and coach both firmly believe that although an unfortunate and grudgingly made decision, it was the right call. The health of our players is considered of utmost importance, and this occasion was no exception.
When asked about future measures and goals for the team, Vuong responded, “We just need more players. There’s a reason why you don’t see many two way players past high school…most just can’t handle the toll it takes on you to play both ways.” Injuries in contact sports like football are inevitable, which is why larger teams with more available subs are ideal. For many years the Vikings have learned to roll with the punches, or as Vuong puts it, “It’s just how it goes when you have 18 people on the roster.”
Jeremiah Metry (12) also positively noted that unlike last year in which the team went “into every game expecting a loss”, this year “having a winning record and going into every game believing that we could compete and win the game” was a drastic improvement in mindset. He also added that it was lucky for the team to have athletes drop off nearer the “end of the season” as opposed to in the beginning.
While this year’s season had its ups and downs, the Mills Vikings persevered as best possible, and the team has hope that their peers and fellow teachers/staff can listen with understanding of their perspective concerning the events that took place on the Battle of the Strip. In retrospect, the team had a much higher achieving season than before, and they hope that they can continue to improve in the coming season: “We just need to hope that next year we can get more people out to play,” Vuong concluded.
