Commenting further on the players of the team, Mr. Milner expressed that they “got a lot of new people who’ve kind of jumped in this year.” Considering that last year was Mendham’s first year of unified flag football, the players have really been “learning the game, and learning kind of how the league works,” according to Coach Milner.

      Mr. Milner said, “Expectations for this season were to kind of build on the good start from last year and see if we can kind of hit the ground running.” Charlie took a different approach and focused on the end goal for this season, revealing that he wanted to “make it back to the Jets training facility to win the championship and get the state title.” Every year, the top two teams in the league with the best record go to the Jets training facility to compete for the state title championship.

     The team has developed very well, as Mr. Milner said, “last season, we tended to kind of find plays that worked well and run them for the same people, and this year we’re a lot more flexible.” Charlie also thinks that he has developed since the start of the season, stating that he started to trust his teammates, and he has “no worry that they’re gonna make a big play happen.” The team will, undoubtedly, get better and better and improve more as the season goes.       

       The team chemistry on and off the field has been fantastic. Charlie believes that there is not a “single flaw” about the team chemistry. He signified that the players “work together,” and “the ball gets to the receiver’s hands, and it works out.” Coach Milner also has a similar opinion, stating that the “team chemistry is only getting better.” He specified that they have returned “basically most of our group… from last year,” and added that “each game we set, we tend to settle in a bit faster than we did the game before.” If the team can maintain this kind of chemistry and help each other improve, then the team will pull out the wins they want and achieve their necessary goals. 

       All teams come with their own challenges, but also their own ways to get through them. According to Coach Milner, the biggest challenge of the season is getting the new players to learn the playbook well and rotating them through all of the positions. He stated that “with Unified, we tend to rotate through positions quite a bit. So it’s not like you’re always the running back one or you’re always the receiver one.” He added that it’s been “a challenge for new people… trying to figure out how the playbook works, and what plays we like to run.” But Coach Milner also believes that the players have been fighting through it, clearly stating that “people have risen to it pretty well, and game on game we’re looking faster at getting lined up… so it’s helping us in terms of pace.” 

       With only three games and a few practices so far, this season has been packed with so many memorable moments. Charlie recalls the moments when everybody, no matter what, “gets a chance to be on the field, and how everybody’s happy out there.” Mr. Milner recalls more specific moments, like when Kaitlyn Niemczyk (sophomore) made a move that “put a kid right down on the floor” against Union High School, or when Charlie Wood made a diving catch for a touchdown at the Union City game. He also commented on the biggest standout of the year, which, according to him, was being “much better in the air,” meaning the team has been communicating to throw and catch passes very well. It seems like all these cheerful and thrilling moments have been adding up, whether it’s boosting the morale of the players or improving their team chemistry on and off the field. 

       For the rest of the season, Mr. Milner thinks that the team can improve their defense and get a “little bit lighter on our feet.” He also stated that he wanted to improve leadership opportunities for “not just captains… but people who are rising to become upperclassmen.” If the team can pull through and improve what they need to improve, then those personal goals and achievements will come to them.