“We’re a team…we win together and we lose together, we celebrate and we mourn together. And defeats are softened and victories are sweetened because we did them together.” Toby Ziegler, The West Wing

Tough loss. We made some mistakes. Some bad calls. It hurts. 

But I’m so proud of you, and I want you to leave here with your heads held high, and hungry for more. 

I’m proud of the work you put in, on and off the field. We exceeded our expectations this year, and we did that because of you. Each of you contributed to the strength of this team. Each of you helped shape our dynamic, our “bonkers work ethic,” and our spirit. 

It was a joy to watch you encourage one another, to lift each other up. It was a joy to see you spend time with each other outside of practice, strengthening your bond. It was a joy to watch you lead one another, to be excellent competitors, and respectful combatants. 

I’m so proud to have seen each of you grow as young men, as teammates, and as players. I know we hoped for a better outcome, and I know you might want to beat yourselves up, blame yourselves. But we win as a team. We lose as a team. We grow as a team. We will learn from our mistakes, but we will not let them haunt us. We will mourn this loss, but we will not hang our heads in defeat. We are North, we are family, we are a community. We have already won, and we will win again.