High school football: Murray got the reward it deserved

They didn't want the celebration to end.

It was, after all, a moment some weren't sure would come despite the assurances of their coaches.

So the Murray High football players stayed on the field long after the team's 24-9 victory over Taylorsville Friday night, and they reveled in their first victory in two years with the community that supported them.

"It feels great," said senior Tyler Prestwich, a running back and linebacker. "Losing, week in and week out, it's horrible."

Success can be measured in many ways, but in sports, the most visible measuring stick is whether or not a team wins. Players come to believe that the reward for hard work will eventually be a victory.

All of those summer workouts, those agonizing two-a-days, those hours spent learning new plays or watching film and especially the physical battering that comes with practicing and playing the game of football — it all finally paid the reward most sought after — a win.

So they lingered on the field among their friends and relished a moment 24 months in the making.

"I am just proud of the kids," said Murray head football coach Dan Aragon. "It did get to the point that we felt we were snake-bitten there for a while. But we hung in there, we believed; we felt like we were going to be competitive."

The most difficult part of the 19-game losing streak may have been the close calls. Several games last year, the Spartans led in the fourth quarter only to come out losers at the final whistle.

Still, Aragon and his players said their strategy was never to just try hard or keep it close. They never felt like losers.

"There wasn't one game, in the last three years where we went in just hoping we could win," he said. "We always believed."

Prestwich, quarterback Dee Hamala and offensive lineman Keaton Adams have played varsity football since their sophomore year, and they agreed with their coach.

"We felt like we were successful as individuals," said Prestwich. "We just had to find success as a team."

Adds Hamala, "We felt like we've been getting better every game."

After a while, the players began to see those close calls as opportunities.

"It's painful," said Prestwich, "but we'd just say we wanted to come back out and make the season a success."

So they listened to their coaches, they blocked out their critics and worked just a little harder.

These boys know more about losing than they ever wanted to, but they also know more about themselves than if the road to winning had been quicker, easier.

"We've learned life skills," said Prestwich. "We have no life during football, so when we lose it feels bad and it prepares you for the kicks you're going to get from life."

In the end, the moment they waited two years to savor was difficult to describe.