Community supports Windermere football team through trying debut season -- Observer Preps

Windermere High’s football team took its lumps in its inaugural campaign — but passion and support from the new school’s community never wavered.

By Steven Ryzewski
| 2:15 p.m. November 9, 2017

Sports

More than anything, the inaugural season for the Windermere Wolverines football program was an endurance test.

A roster with no seniors and few players with varsity experience predictably struggled — and a wave of injuries midseason didn’t help matters.

The Wolverines went winless this fall, but there are a number of silver linings to the program’s first-year struggles. Perhaps none is as big as the way the community embraced this team through a tough season.

The Wolverines once again had a large crowd at the final game of the season at Olympia.

Despite playing a schedule that featured all road games, the Windermere fan base traveled in force to each and every game — in several cases outdrawing the home team’s crowd.

The passionate and persistent support was not lost on first-year head coach Greg Miller.

“It’s us coming together as a community team and a community program. The cheerleaders, the band — those parents have all been very, very supportive of this program,” Miller said. “It’s been nice ... specifically for the players. We can’t run and operate without the support of the community and the fans.”

Denise Milazzo, president of the Windermere High PTSO, said the way the community has rallied around the team is reflective of how eager it is to embrace the school as a whole.

“We fought so long and so hard to get this school built,” Milazzo said. “That’s how important it is to us to have this school — that’s why we have so many people here.”

Traveling with the Wolverines was no easy feat, either.

Although the team’s final game against Olympia was nearby — the schools sit roughly seven miles apart — other game locations were farther. Travel distances for games such as Celebration High (17 miles from campus), Liberty High (30 miles) and East River High (34 miles), just to name a few, normally would deter many fans.

But apparently not the Windermere Wolverine faithful.

Although it may take a few seasons for this program to truly get its feet under it and cultivate an identity on the field, players can take pride in knowing they have a level of support on the sidelines that many other teams only dream about.