After somewhat of a rough season, the Bob Jones Patriots (6-4) will face off against the Hoover Buccaneers (7-3) in the playoff game this Friday night.

Bob Jones has faced many injuries throughout this season, proving it to be quite the challenge to pull off some wins. For quarterback, Caden Rose, “The most frustrating thing this season has been having so many injuries to key players.”

Wide receiver and punter, John-Michael Riley, also shares this frustration, stating that “a lot of starters have gotten injured.” However, that hasn’t kept Riley or the Patriots down. “No matter what has happened this year the team hasn’t given up,” Riley said, “We kept fighting and made the playoffs.”

However, defeating Hoover will not be an easy task. “Hoover is one of the best High School Football Programs in the country,” the head football coach, Kevin Rose, said. Hoover currently ranks as number one football team in the state. Coach Rose also pointed out that “Hoover has over 1,000 more students than we do.”

Out of a survey of 31 Bob Jones students, only 6 were definitely planning to attend the game.

“It is always possible [to win], the players just have to work hard, believe in themselves, do their best, and not give up,” Gracie Beck said.

Several Bob Jones students weighed in on what they think Bob Jones needed to improve on as a team. “They need to support each other more as a team,” color guard member, Lenora Lee, said. “I have to attend all [of the games], and it seems they do really well the first half, but not in the second.”

“I think that the odds of winning are getting very slim. The time that I was at some of the games we barely cut it and came back at the very end.” Brandon Clark explained. “ It was exciting but not very assuring for the rest of the season.”

Coach Rose continued to explain that “We are working hard to try and give our team a chance to pull off a huge upset. Hopefully, we can play our best game of the season and get a couple of big breaks!”

The Bob Jones Patriots will have a difficult challenge ahead of them, after many tough breaks during the season. However, as long as the Patriots play their hearts out, they can never really lose. Go, Patriots!