What an amazing season these 26 young men had playing for the Avon Pirates High School Football team. With an overall record of 10-2 and Class 9B State Football Champions title, a first-year head coach and his team could not ask for a better season. The seniors on the football team could not agree more and a few wanted to say a few things to their coaches, teammates, and community. Trace Pelton commented he could not have asked for more for his senior season. “This season has been an incredible experience.” He felt that because his teammates played so well together that the season just came together for the team. Trace felt like they were the underdogs this season and it just made them want to work harder. For Terran Talsma, he could not have asked for a better ending to his senior football season. “We learned a lot of lessons throughout the season and got better every week.” The coaches were great and I could not have asked for better. His teammates are awesome and he was so glad to get to win the state title with this group of friends. To Landon Thury this was a season of highs and lows. The team was full of new people stepping up to the challenge and taking over the positions of the previous season’s seniors. Every game the team was told to play as if it were their last and the season ended just the way they wanted it to. Playing at the DakotaDome was a once in a life-time experience that he and his teammates will never forget. To get to experience the entire town of Avon in the stands cheering them on was one of the greatest feelings he has ever experienced. Landon felt fortunate that he played the best game of his career during the championship game and was awarded "Outstanding Lineman" of the game. He was very surprised and honored to receive this title. “I was lucky enough to have a great coaching staff full of coaches that always pushed us to be the best that we could be and always believed in us”. Tyler Tjeerdsma would like to say that he is “thankful for the coaches and his teammates this year”. He is proud of how hard they worked as a team, even when some people doubted what the team could do. For Caleb Wallinga, this season has been something that he has been dreaming about since he stood on the sidelines with his dad in 2013. “I’m so thankful for the coaching staff and the other players”. To Caleb, it was an amazing experience to win a state title his senior year. Noah Watchorn felt that this year’s football season was better than he ever could have imagined. “I loved having an amazing coaching system behind the now brothers that I get to call teammates”. Every game he felt they strived to do the best knowing that this season was the last chance to prove that they were championship worthy. It felt amazing winning it all, and he personally could not have wished for a better ending. An amazing moment for Noah was being able to make the game winning stop in front of the exuberant Avon crowd. Noah hopes that the fans and coaches support next year’s team as much as they did this year’s team. Lastly, head coach Justin Lukkes, had a few words to wrap up his inaugural season as the Pirates head coach and thoughts on next football season. Going into this season, Lukkes knew that the Pirates would have a good team. The DakotaDome was always the goal that they set out for as a team, but he made sure the players knew that in order to achieve that, they would have to work very hard. Coach Lukkes always looked at making it to the State Championship game as a possibility, but in all honesty, he was even surprised when it came to fruition. His main goal this season was to make sure that they as a coaching staff were giving the players all the opportunities they needed to succeed. One of the most surprising aspects for his first year of head coaching was how well the players responded to him and his assistant coaches. The players also showed Coach Lukkes how resilient they could be in response to all the ups and downs of the season. Lukkes’ first thought after the Pirates won the state championship game was that they were bringing another title back to Avon. Coach Lukkes has a few things that he would like to say. “Thanks to everyone that supported our team throughout the season it was much appreciated and means a lot to the players! Players- thank you for working hard all season and making this a memorable one! I would also like to thank my fellow coaches for all their hard work, time and doing a fantastic job!” In regards to next season, Coach Lukkes knows that Avon has a great group of kids coming back to play for the Pirates next year. He is hopeful that they will work hard during the off season and that the younger players will be ready to step up into bigger roles. Go Pirates! Congratulations to all the members of the Avon Pirate Class 9B State Football Championship team, Coach Lukkes and his fellow coaches. Thank you for a very memorable season.