By John Hall
The Surveyor

In the last seven football seasons, about this time of the year, I’ve written in the Berthoud Surveyor how seniors start to realize their high school playing days are coming to a close. It’s an emotional tug-of-war for student athletes as they wrap up a sport that finishes a huge chapter in their young lives. These Spartans, like the Berthoud boys of fall before them, know the privilege of battling under the Friday night lights. And they also know that feeling of seeing it end is in the very near future.

The best part of this chapter as these boys head into their fourth quarter as high school football players with most of them contemplating hanging up their pads forever, is controlling their own destiny. No person can ever take away from another those feelings of giving all you have for a cause. The cause before these young men who wear Berthoud across their chest is closing out a season with purpose. For each individual player to give all he has from snap to whistle for a collective goal offers a reward of a lifetime in knowing they gave all they had for their teammates.

Berthoud’s next opponent, the Frederick Warriors, gives the Spartans an opportunity to show their own purpose. The St. Vrain rivalry always brings a formidable defense regardless of their record, and that was evident in a 14-0 win last year for the Spartans. A win this weekend is critical for Berthoud in the home stretch for playoff consideration.

Berthoud sits currently at 16^th in wild-card points in the seeding for the 16 teams who make the state playoffs. After each of the three games left to play in the 2015 regular season, the wild card points will be updated and will reflect the most recent game’s outcome. The Spartans need wins to assure their place into the post season, and it begins this Friday against Frederick.

Berthoud should be near full strength for Frederick after a couple of weeks of missing key players. If they can execute better this week–and each week going forward–they can finish with something these Spartans and an entire program can be proud of.