Tweeeeeeet! The whistle blows to indicate another game is over. North Atlanta has lost the football game again, making their record zero and eight.

Dunwoody High School has shellacked the Warriors from North Atlanta High School. Members of the losing squad walk off the field dejectedly, absorbing yet another lopsided loss.

There’s been little to smile about in this year’s gridiron campaign. The scores have been grueling: Stone Mountain 36, NAHS 14; Miller Grove 37, NAHS 6; Tucker: 75, NAHS 0; with those scores just being the first four games. Since the September 6 Tucker game, NAHS has gone on to lose the last four games. By the final whistle in the Dunwoody game, the Warriors have been outscored by opponents  326 to 27 combined.

This season has been tough for the players, including Carter Grisham, a wide receiver, and Dominique Jenkins, a defensive and offensive lineman. Players like Grisham and Jenkins have committed their time and effort into the team, spending summers training and afternoons at practices. Yet despite the discouraging season for the Warriors, the players are able to stick together and keep their heads high.

What keeps them together? Jenkins said it was “the brotherhood in the locker room.”  As the season goes on, the players develop a strong, meaningful bond. They give support to one another and keep their spirits high. Although the scores may not reflect the best of the North Atlanta football team, the effort that they put into every game always shows. “It’s not always about the winning or losing. It’s really more about the effort we put into it,” Jenkins said.

Even with such a tight brotherhood within the team, the players still have to make numerous sacrifices both on and off the field. With countless practices and games, Grisham’s and Jenkins’ social lives are different than those of most teenagers. During the season, parties are off limits, making it hard to meet new friends. “It gets hard because we really only get to know the people that we see at school,” Grisham said.

The sacrifices are willingly taken on, along with the weekly drubbings at the hands of teams with two times the number of players than the Warriors field. It’s not uncommon for 40 – or fewer – NAHS players to stare across the field at teams with 80 or more players.

Carter and Dominique are willing to make sacrifices to be a part of the North Atlanta, and both have high hopes of playing football in college. They know, along with the rest of the team, that if they continue to keep their heads high and keep their brotherhood strong, they can make it through any season, no matter the difficulty.