It has been a while since Beatty was in the playoffs in football. It was 1996. That was before many of the team members were even born. This year the six seniors on the team will be playing in their first playoff game in a Beatty football uniform. It could be their last game ever in a Beatty football uniform, but they are ready to play and prove to people that they can play football. The seniors are: Luis Flores, Jacob Handy, Zain Hammit, Brandon Cross, Waylon Lucas and Lorenzo Pinon.
Luis Flores has been a key player with Beatty for the past four years. He is the quarterback of the team. He plays three sports, football, basketball and baseball. He has had to suffer on losing teams and is excited that this year the Hornets have a great team.
“We know it has been a long time since we have made it to the playoffs,” Flores said. “We want to prove to people that we can do this and we can play football. We are excited, practices may get long and tedious but we are just happy to still be playing. We just need to keep moving forward and the whole team needs to do our jobs.”
Flores said the team has made it this far because it has depth.
“We have a lot of young key players and they are mainly from the sophomore class. We are mainly healthy and ready to go because we have a lot of depth,” Flores said.
He gave the example of Waylon Lucas getting hurt and Robby Revert stepped in and did a great job. Last week, Revert had a pick-six interception.
“Even though we have injuries, the team should be fine. It’s a team effort,” Flores said.
Flores played down his role for the team’s winning record.
“I am able to do what I do because we have an experienced line,” he said. “My line is strong and they adapt to the defenses. It’s good to have that. I just need to do my job and read the defense and we should do well.”
Senior Waylon Lucas has also played all four years and is looking forward to seeing his team doing well against Spring Mountain. He said this year has definitely been the best year.
“My fondest memory would be how we came together as a team to beat Tonopah. During that game I recovered a fumble at the start of the second half. We came together so well and capitalized on their mistakes,” Lucas said.
Lucas and the Beatty defense has been able to take advantage of other teams’ mistakes all year long. It’s something that Hornets Coach James Robertson has become accustomed to. In the last three games, the defense has come alive and stopped offensive drives cold either by causing a fumble or an interception.
Senior Jacob Handy has been playing for the last three years. He just loves the fact that his team beat both Tonopah and Round Mountain this year.
“It’s been an amazing journey for me because it’s the first time we have been in the playoffs for a long time. It’s been a lot of fun. Round Mountain was my best game. I was up for that game. That was one of those games where we said, ‘Beatty can play the game.’”
Win or lose the seniors and the Beatty football team will never forget this year.
The Beatty Hornets football team is in the playoffs, their game is at 1 p.m. at Spring Mountain today.
A win today will put them in the state tourney and the Hornets will play the number one northern team.