Last Wednesday the football team ended their season in the familiar fashion, with their banquet. Many players had their dedication, sacrifice and talent recognized at the closing ceremony of the 2015 football season. Linebacker’s coach and co-defensive coordinator Judd Jackson expressed his pride for those players.

“Losing seniors is always a big time deal, but this group will be especially hard,” Jackson said. “They were like a family.”

Senior Travis Brannan was declared Team MVP. Jackson attributes Brannan’s achievement to his talents on the field, as well as his leadership skills.

“He holds multiple records, most touchdowns, most yards, most combined rushing and receiving yards,” Jackson said. “Where he went, our team was gonna go.”

For his part, Brannan was surprised was he was awarded the title of Most Valuable Player.

“We’ve got tons of great players on the team who were all very deserving,” Brannan said. “I just felt very honored that my teammates would vote for me.”

He wasn’t the only one surprised. Senior Paxton Segina definitely did not expect to win the Second to None award that evening, and expressed his gratitude towards his team.

“It was kinda easy to be selfless and care about my teammates when I had the teammates that I did,” Segina said. “That was the best team that I’ve ever been a part of.”

Many other awards were handed out during the ceremony. One such award was the Special Teams MVP, bestowed to seniors Jackson Harris and Culver Sumner.

“It was awesome to share an award with Jackson,” Sumner said.

Despite all the celebration, many players were saddened by the realization that this was their last season at Vandegrift.

“The thing I’m going to miss most about playing here is the people,” Brannan said. “It’s such a tight-knit community, everyone knows you and they support you a ton, which is just a real special deal.”

Segina has had an especially rough season, due to the concussion he received at the Nov. 6 game against Georgetown. But he says the experience helped him learn a lot about teamwork and perseverance.

“My teammates really, really picked me up, there wasn’t any time to be down about it,” Segina said. “It’s not about me, it’s about we.”