Friday night football season has officially begun. The student section is cheering louder than ever with students filling up the stands to watch the varsity football team proudly take the field in the first games of the season. Their triumph over crosstown rival, Rochester, 33-14 in the first game led the team into their astonishing season, undefeated thus far.

A handful of strong players have made a large contribution to these wins, and two of these players are the sons of head coach, Mr. Tony Patritto.

Junior Cole Patritto, standing at 5’10” and weighing 155 pounds, brings great speed to the team; he uses this to his advantage against other teams with his well executed runs. Senior captain Mark Patritto, standing at 5’11” and weighing 175, is playing his last season of high school football. He has led the team to three victories this year already with more to come throughout the season.

For the Patrittos, football has its place both on and off the field. “At dinner, he (Coach Patritto) will sometimes make a smart comment about a mistake, but there are sometimes where he will give us credit for how hard we are working or plays we make, so it’s kinda the best of both worlds,” said Mark.

The boys have a very strong relationship with their father and go to him as their teacher, coach, and dad. They enjoy how hard he pushes them, knowing that he expects the best from them every minute they are on the field; however, this father-son relationship has not always been easy on the field.

Mark and Cole have faced accusations of favoritism each year since Mr. Patritto first took the position of head football coach. This can be strenuous, but they take it the best way they can and work their hardest despite the comments.

“My best point of the season this year was in the warmups before the Rochester game, [The RHS] student section was yelling ‘Daddy ball’ at me, which I thought was pretty funny and pretty encouraging, so we had some fun,” said Coach Patritto. Nothing can stop these two boys and their father, something that will be proven throughout the season this year.

Mark and Cole are not the only Patrittos playing Adams football. Mr. Patritto’s youngest son, Anthony, is currently on the freshman team, playing for Coach Steve Emery. Only time will tell where Anthony goes with football.

“We take this one year at a time. Right now, he is a freshman player, so we will have to see what happens next year,” said Coach Patritto. For now, it is just the Patritto duo of Mark and Cole on the varsity team, with their dad leading them under the Friday night lights.

The Adams Boys Varsity Football team faced off against Oak Park September 16 in a nail-biting game, with Oak Park leaving with the win in an overtime two-point conversion.