Until this year, Morgan football was its own team but now Morgan JV football was playing with OSW. Which stands for Old Saybrook and Westbrook. The reasoning behind this is low numbers in football leading to injuries. The school wanted to look out for the safety of the players. Lots of games would have had to be canceled because they couldn’t fill the JV team. In a small school like Morgan, all players dress for Varsity

The Sport Director, Meagan Sears, said that she worked with athletes and wanted to pursue an athletic career. She said, “The Morgan football boys are playing with OSW because of low numbers in football. It was a challenge to get JV players. Based on the numbers, we were trying to provide opportunities to compete. We wanted to look out for the safety of the kids. We would have to cancel some games because we couldn’t fill the JV team.” Mrs. Sears added that “Some student athletes can play for both varsity and JV. It sometimes depends on the amount of quarters that they play. Also, in a small school like Morgan, all our athletes dress for varsity.”

Jaidyn Hills – #72 explained that it’s honestly pretty fun to play with OSW because the JV team actually gets to play a season this year. Jaidyn said that they have only 1 practice a week. He said, “We’ve played 3 games with OSW already and the Morgan team is happy about the change.”

Greyson Simes-Vandersloot -#53 shared that the Morgan team is happy about the change for the most part. Greyson said, “I think Westbrook and Old Saybrook are happy about the change.” He added, “The other teams are easy to play and work with. We don’t have to run as much, which is good because I don’t like running.”

Morgan Paraprofessional Veronica Aleman is also a football mom to Jadon Cartagena – #21. She feels more comfortable that the team’s safety isn’t as high of a risk because there are more people playing. She shared, “My son and his cousin get to play on the same team because my nephew plays on the Old Saybrook team.” Mrs. Aleman explained, “It was a surprise to a lot of parents because it wasn’t happening in the beginning. From a parent’s perspective it’s good to see them working together. When there is a small team and there’s an injury, the other players are going to have to keep playing, exhausted.” She realized that whether the team wins or loses, the coaches make sure that they are still learning. She said, “Before we knew they were going to combine, they were excited to see them play against each other.” Mrs. Aleman states, “Old Saybrook has a turf field, and there was one Wednesday when it was raining, so they couldn’t practice on our field, so they went to Old Saybrook‘s, but most of the time OSW comes here.” Mrs. Aleman admits “I do love being a football mom. It’s a little terrifying because you see your kid get tackled, but I love it because he loves it.”