Omaha North Viking varsity football team ended their season after only making it into the first round of playoffs, losing against the Grand Island Islanders on October 28.

The team had a winning season, only losing four games, leaving them in 39th place in Nebraska and 13th place in Division A.

Gregory Moore, 10, is a nose guard and defensive tackle on North’s varsity and junior varsity (JV) teams. Moore is disappointed because he feels the team is good enough to have made it further in the playoffs.

“[We learned] to not give up in a game if we [were] losing,” Moore said.

Wendell Tchalassi, 11, who is a cornerback on the varsity team is also disappointed.

“We planned and expected to continue on all the way to the championship,” Tchalassi said.

Tchalassi felt the team improved their work ethic throughout the season, but he knows they could have worked harder on their mental strength as a team.

“When a bad play happened, we were always there to lift our teammates,” Tchalassi said. “But sometimes people fell apart in a team sense.”

Head Coach Larry Martin only wishes to change the last six minutes of the team’s final game, but he is overall proud that they persevered throughout the season.

“We [the team] are hopeful the experience that we got this year will pay dividends down the road,” Martin said.

Since the season ended shorter than expected, the football players are spending this time training for their next season.

Martin is hoping to strengthen the underclassman, making them “bigger and faster” during the offseason.

“We’re taking our pain and hurt and using it as motivation,” Tchalassi said.