Written By: Sadie Kolodner

With their last game on October 31st against Poly Prep Country Day School, the Rye Country Day School Varsity Football Team concluded an outstanding season! The 2025-2026 football team was led by Captains Will Hawkey ‘27, Hank Brown ‘27, Milin Torgalkar ‘26, and Charlie Pearle ‘26, guiding the Wildcats through a total of nine games.

At the start of the season, Hawkey shared how “there were low expectations of how [they] were going to play,” but as the season progressed, they realized their abilities were a lot stronger than they initially believed. Hawkey noted that their biggest accomplishment during the season was “making the A Bracket in the MIFL (Metropolitan Independent League Football) playoffs and beating Hackley in the quarterfinals.”

For many players, their favorite game of the season was on October 18th against Hopkins School. “The Hopkins game was the game that proved we were the team worthy enough to make it to the A bracket because of all of our hard work and determination,” said player Octavius Viera ‘27. “It showed our progression as a team because if we didn’t win, we wouldn’t have made it to the quarterfinals.”

The team’s biggest loss was against Hackley on September 19th with a score of 12-28. However, the Wildcats redeemed themselves in their rematch against Hackley during the MIFL playoffs, where the team won 13-6.

When asked to describe the team this year in one word, Hawkey chose “ecstatic”. “We played each and every game with a lot of energy and it’s something we could always control going into games,” he said. Whether they won or lost, this energy brought ample determination and team spirit to make an enjoyable 2025-2026 season.

The Wildcats are looking forward to next year to continue building on this season’s success, bringing the same energy and enthusiasm to the field!