What does it take to become captain of a D1 high school football team? Courage? Persistence?

Yes.

According to coach Chadde Wolf, Ahmed Diawara ‘25 and Rashad Morgan ‘25 embody these traits.

“I think what’s great about those two is, yes, they are leaders on our team, but they also lead by example,” Wolf said. “We’ve come back from the second half being down by a couple of touchdowns, and they [never] give up, they keep fighting. They keep on cheering everybody on.”

Kingston Kirkland is one of the players on the varsity team.

“They’re very hard working, they’re nice to everybody, and they always support someone even if they’re not feeling the best. They’re always at practice. They don’t miss practice, even if they’re hurt,” Kirkland said. “They’re always some of the loudest even [if they’re] not in the game. They always try to stay positive.”

Morgan believes what sets he and Diawara apart is how close they are with the younger players.

“At first, I didn’t think I was fit for the job,” Morgan said. “But as time went on, others on the team trusted me and asked me for help or guidance. [They] aren’t afraid to approach me [now].”

Both Diawara and Morgan agree that there are stresses affiliated with being captain.

“The biggest stress I would say is dealing with the specific issues of different guys,” Diawara said. “For example, say a guy is in a position he doesn’t want to be in and is thinking about quitting the team. I’m not perfect. I don’t know what to say all of the time, so it gets difficult at times.”

Diawara and Morgan are neighbors so they have known each other for a while and they say that there friendship has helped them to be captains.

“It helps [that we’re] able to tell each other that we need to step up,” Morgan said.

Diawara agreed.

“It’s good that we can provide different points of view in our methods to leading the team,”.

After struggling last season, the team ended with a final record of 7-3.