On November 1st, 2024, the varsity football program sealed an unfortunate season. The final buzzer sounded in Kenny Deel Stadium, and it was official. Melissa would not make the playoffs for the first time since 2015. But that night’s loss to Walnut Grove wasn’t the only reason they missed the playoffs. 

Last season, the team had a total of three losses. One of them was that loss to Walnut Grove, where Melissa fell nine points short. Another one was their game against Lucas Lovejoy, where the Leopards got a controversial win over the Cards by three. Their last loss was against Frisco Emerson, where Melissa blew a five-point fourth-quarter lead to lose by three. All three of these games were easily winnable, but small mistakes made a big impact.

 Inside linebacker coach Philip Pendleton helps explain what could have caused these losses to happen. 

“Just some execution. A couple of crucial games,” Pendleton said, “Our district is very competitive and part of that is, if you aren’t executing 100%, you could lose a game.” 

Coach Pendleton mentioned that their district is “very competitive.” He was not exaggerating. One Sports Illustrated reporter dubbed their district the “District of Doom.” Last year, according to MaxPreps, the district had three teams finish inside the top 50 in the state. All those teams made the playoffs, as did Frisco Emerson, another team Melissa lost to. That made it viable that the Cards would lose three games. And, they only lost those games by a total of 15 points. 

So that’s promising for this year. And the program has inherited a lot of talent. They have a new quarterback, Brett Holloway, who is an efficient and valuable dual-threat player, as well as some rising talent coming from sophomore running back Bear Tabor and senior outside linebacker Max Corbin, last year’s defensive newcomer of the year. That said, their district slate looks as tough as last year’s. When asked which of these teams could pose a challenge for the program, Coach Pendleton noted that Anna, Lovejoy, and Walnut Grove are all going to be threats, but that his team is still better than all of them. This is true for many reasons, including the fact that Head Coach Matt Nally and his coaching staff have won 52 games since he started at the school, dropping only 14. The biggest question is whether they have gotten better at executing plays over the offseason. 

“[It’s] too early to tell,” Pendleton answered, “Haven’t gotten to the difficult games yet, but I think we’re ready.”