Published: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 05:47 PM
Fort Mill High has its very own ‘Iron Men'
FORT MILL --
In Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr. portrays the fictitious superhero Iron Man. However, Fort Mill has its own real-life version.
A bunch of them, in fact.
There is a group of guys from Fort Mill High School that could be accurately nicknamed “The Iron Men.”
The Fort Mill High School junior varsity football team is athletic, physical, tough and focused. The players are made up of all the characteristics you would want a football team to have – except one; they barely have enough players to be eligible.
An ideal football team at the high school level would suit up at least 35 players for each game. The JV Yellow Jackets finished their season with a roster of 18 players. That is not even enough personnel to have a full 11-on-11 practice.
It is not unusual to play “Iron Man” football in high school, meaning a few players play both offense and defense for their team. However, the Yellow Jackets do not have a choice. It was vital for all 18 players to make significant contributions in practices and games, both offense and defense, all while doing their best to stay injury-free.
“One of the biggest challenges of having such a small group is finding a time during the game to get kids a break,” Coach Adam Foltz said.
“And because of that we also have a few kids that have to learn multiple positions, so we rotate in order to keep everyone as fresh as possible. We also have about 8 to 10 that see significant time on Friday nights as well. They either give a kid a break on offense or defense or they are on a special team. Obviously, the outcome of Thursday's game was not what we wanted, but as they did all year, our kids kept playing hard and stuck one in there at the end.”
Despite the odds, the JV Yellow Jackets fought hard and completed the season with wins over Broome and York and ended the season with a 2-8 record.
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