I fell in love in eighth grade…when I won my first football game. Ever since, football has been a major part of my life. At the start of my junior year, of high school, we got a new head coach, Coach Malling. And then football became harder, more challenging and more demanding both mentally and physically. But great things happened due to these changes.

We became stronger as a team in all facets. Coach Malling has high expectations. He expects teammates to be the most important thing. He says the team should be your ultimate motivation and you should always try to give and sacrifice for the team. He expects your teammates to know where you are during the season and the offseason. If you’re not going to be at a practice or a work out you have to explain to your teammates why.

When Coach Malling first took over, his new philosophies were a shock to many of us. For the first time, we didn’t have our season’s goal to win the state title. For the first time, we didn’t look at each game as a win or lose situation. Instead, we saw each game as a test. Coach created a new way for us to train as a team. He set us in an attacking mindset with a warrior’s ethos. He is always inspiring in the weight room, on the practice field, and on game day. Throughout the season we hung on his every word. But once we realized how good he could make us we followed suit.
The way he set goals for us was different than we were used to, but it was brilliant. Our goal in 2012 was never to go 13-0, win the state title, or be ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Instead during the regular season, our goal was to play a perfect game. We did not accomplish this, even though our closest game was 20 points. Our goal during the playoffs was to stay together as a team for as long as possible. We accomplished this goal and the pursuit of these two things led to a state title, an undefeated season, being ranked number one in the state, and in the top 10 of the nation.
With all the great things Coach Malling did this year, he refused to take any credit. After every interview he always said the players worked hard all week and earned the win- although he would also say we needed to improve a lot as well.
In the fourth quarter of the State Final game, Coach Malling called a timeout so the 27 seniors could go out on the numbers and take a bow in front of the Camp Randall crowd. He never touched the trophy during the presentation. Instead, he talked about how he would miss working with this team every day. Still refusing to take on any credit for himself.