By: Kayla Comried [Staff Writer]
As he walks onto the field he feels his heart pound to a steady beat. He hustles out hand and hand with his team and begins warm ups. His stomach fills with butterflies, and he anticipates the game that is soon to be played. When he finally hears the whistle he promises himself one thing. He will play with his heart.
Dalton Gardner, a sophomore, plays with the varsity team along with the sophomore team hear at Marion. He plays three positions including tight end, defensive end, and punter. He really enjoyed this season and he is sad to see it come to an end. “I will miss the guys, my football family, the most”, says Dalton with a gloomy look. When a football player comes together with his team a bond impossible to break is formed. Dalton has formed one of these invincible bonds with many of the upperclassman. He was so thankful to get to play with all the seniors and he will miss them all greatly.
For those people out there that aren’t aware, we lost in our second round of playoffs to Dewitt Central. Dalton was playing at this game, and feels they played their best, “We played with all our heart and gave it our all, but we just couldn’t come out on top in the end.” Dalton was happy with the way they played and didn’t seem to have any regrets from the game. This was the last game he got to play with the seniors so he enjoyed every minute of it, and tried to make the moments last.
Although he is sad to see this season come to an end, he already has goals and aspirations for next season. “We will get them next year,” says Dalton with great excitement. They should be good next year, and Dalton is readily prepared to come out on top.
As he walks off the field he keeps his head held high. He embraces the hugs of many family members and friends that came to support him. He says goodbye to many teammates that he has become close with hoping to keep in touch. He looks back at the field one more time and know his sophomore season is over. He walks away proud, knowing he fulfilled his promise to play with heart.
