Kenston Forest School’s varsity football team made its entrance into the world of eight-man football this year and proved successful when fully healthy, with clear growth in its players as the season progressed.

The Kavaliers finished with an overall record of 2-6. They did not end up being in good position to play in the state tournament, so their season ultimately came to a conclusion with the exclamation point of their 48-14 regular-season home win over Hampton Roads Academy on Nov. 2.

“We won the first game and the last game — basically the two games that we were the most healthy with everybody,” Kenston Forest Head Coach Tom Inge said.

Reflecting on the year as a whole for his team, Inge said, “Everybody really enjoyed eight-man (football), so there was a lot of excitement for the first year with that, some new things and new strategies used with that. The kids progressed like they should and were playing really good football at the end. Our main thing was that we had one or two key injuries that really made the difference probably in the win-loss column.”

Those injuries were to sophomore starting quarterback Moewuante Morrison and junior starting running back Jah’Tavious Houston. Illness sidelined Morrison for all but two games and part of a third. Houston, who needs shoulder surgery, played hurt for most of the year.

Other standouts included sophomore lineman Thomas Inge and freshman quarterback/ receiver/linebacker Trey Lewis.