By Laura Amato
The Christ the King football team can still remember every detail of their loss in last year’s CHSFL Class AA championship game agaist Xavier. This year the squad is determined to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.
This season’s Royals are focused—on competing, on winning and, most importantly, on clinching a championship.
“Since my freshman year we’ve gone to the championship three times in a row and we haven’t finished,” said senior receiver and Monmouth commit Justin Terry. “I feel like our life is like a movie, so we just have to end with a ‘w,’ get that happy ending.”
The Royals notched a handful of practices on their home field last week before packing up their bags for a team camp. It’s a trip that has become a tradition for Christ the King, one that helps refine that much-needed focus.
“The problem we had last year was discipline and it showed on the field,” coach Jason Brown said. “This class is special. But we want to finish this year. That’s very important to us.”
Christ the King returns a whopping 26 players from last year’s squad, which finished a perfect 6-0 in league play and dominated on the offensive side of the ball.
But there are still a few questions when it comes to offense, particularly with brand-new quarterback Demetrius Wilson.
Brown called Wilson, who previously played at Cardozo, a true athlete, but it’s his first year in the position and there have already been obstacles on the offensive side of the ball.
“We’ve got a new quarterback, so it’s been kind of hard to get the same bond,” Terry said. “But we’re trying to stay on track and keep the mindset. We lost a couple of guys from last year, but I personally think we’ve got the same skill set to get us back to where we were. We just need to finish and we just want to avenge ourselves.”
The Royals may be one of the most naturally skilled teams in the entire city, but Christ the King isn’t willing to rest on its laurels. That philosophy didn’t lead to a championship in the past and the team knows it won’t this year.
“We’re really working hard,” said senior Siddiq Muhammad, who will head to Marshall University next year. “We’ve kicked it up a notch and we’re going hard every day on the field. Hopefully we get that ring that we’ve been waiting for.”
Every team across the city comes into the season with its collective sights set on a championship, but Christ the King is determined to prove something.
“This is about winning a championship although I don’t like looking that far ahead,” Brown said. “That’s our main goal though is to win a championship and then move up to AAA. This is a blessed class and just a lot of winners.”
