The Re-birth of Northwestern

The First Block

It’s 2023 and the Northwestern High school football team has just ended their season

below .500 with a disappointing 4-6 record.  Fast forward to a couple months later when

the program makes a pivotal decision in hiring former NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater

 and at that moment anyone rooting for the Bulls immediately was infused with excitement.

That initial anticipation grew even more when in July the team played Norland in a 7-on-7

tournament with some of the top teams in the state making appearances. Norland came in

as one of the top dogs because of the fact the Vikings were coming off a state

championship runner up finish versus Berkley Prep (Tampa). The Bulls preceded to come

 out on top and at that moment the hype was at its peak...

The Florida high school sports world could sense that Northwestern was back.

The Pieces to the puzzle

The Bulls had some of their key contributors this season already on their squad last

season. Names like Calvin Russell the 5-star Wide Receiver with college offers from every

high-major school you can think of, J’vari Flowers the Junior Defensive back with 23

division-1 college offers, and Tywan Cox the teams other star defensive back that holds

multiple Division-1 offers himself are returners from that 2023 team who have been

extremely impactful and are some of the best players in the country this season. Those are their core

pieces that have been in place. But a big piece of the puzzle was absent. That piece is

Coach Bridgewater. His x’s and o’s prowess has been a revelation for this team, and that

combined with his ability to keep his guys in unison during tough situations has been

pivotal for this turn-around.

The 2024 season

The Bulls started their season off with a dominating win over Coconut Creek in which they

held them to 0 points and put up 45 an impressive victory that showed early signs of what

is to come. They then matched up against one of the most high-powered teams in the state

 in Venice High who has averaged 57.75 points per game this season and ultimately handed

Northwestern their first loss in an overtime thriller that saw Northwestern get taken

 down. The Bulls bounced back in week 3 with a convincing 42-7 win over a Carol City

 squad that many around the Florida Highschool Football community were excited about

prior to the season beginning due to the introduction of a new coaching staff and with that

 came additional talented additions to the roster. This most recent week saw Coach Bridgewater and the crew

take on The Norland Vikings once again. A rematch of that 7on7 game we mentioned previously versus

 a reigning state championship finalist led by one of the top QB’s in the county Ejay Yapoor.

The game was back in forth but ultimately was sealed with a thrown pick by the Bulls

Quarterback and slide by the opposing DB as the Vikings offense took the field.

In Conclusion

This historically great program who had seen themselves lose their spot at the top of

the mountain is on its climb back up this season.

They took the necessary steps towards that with the hiring of their new staff and the

 development of their young talent over the off-season. This season is just the beginning of that journey and in

that journey, there will be heartbreaking losses and joyful victories, but make absolutely no mistake about it.

We will be seeing this Northwestern program holding a trophy up very soon.

The Bulls next game is against reigning state champions Columbus on 9/19 at 7pm at Traz Powell Stadium.