By Justin Adams | [email protected]

What a difference a year makes.

Last year, the Mountain Ridge football team opened up its inaugural season by losing to Olympus High, 56-0. This year? The Sentinels got revenge, as they went up to the Titan’s home field and came away with a 27-17 victory, the first in program history.

Last year, the Sentinels struggled as every first year school does. A young team with much fewer upperclassmen than most teams, they lost every game and scored just 9 points through the first five games. While it was a difficult season, head coach Mike Meifu said it made the team stronger.

“Last year was rough in every way. It seemed like everything was against us. They buckled down; they handled adversity extremely well,” he said.

The team started to put things together towards the end of last season, culminating in a season-high 21 points scored against Highland in the first round of the playoffs. That momentum, plus the advantage of returning almost all of last year’s starters, set the Sentinels up for a more hopeful second season.

Those hopes proved well-founded as Mountain Ridge was able to comfortably handle Olympus High, one of the better 5A teams from the last few years, in its opening game. The Sentinels got out to an early lead and didn’t look back on their way to a 10-point victory.

“It means everything,” Miefu said about the win. “These guys have been through so much… It means everything to these kids and this program. It’s a great feeling.”