Glen Rock football comes off a win against Manchester Regional High School and enters a bye week.

The football team won on Sept. 17, 14 to 6. Bouncing back from their first game’s loss, against Rutherford, the Panthers won a meaningful victory.

“Coming off a win in a bye always helps. When you lose you always want to get back on the field right away. We have a win under our belts which is good and gives us momentum coming into this bye week,” Coach Jim Kurz said.

No football game has been scheduled for this weekend. Coming off a win from the weekend before, this gave the football players a less hectic week and more time to focus on academics without the pressure of a game that weekend.

Bye week let the players review the fundamentals and game plays. This was the first time the football team knew about a bye week so early in the season.

It was used to get the players healed.

“We have a  couple injuries that we were worried about, so we actually didn’t go out with pads, we only had them on for about 20 minutes and we only went with helmets trying to give some of the players a rest,” Kurz said.

Player Ryan Dooner (‘17) is one of the players with a minor injury who, Coach Kurz mentioned. He fights a constant battle every week with a pain in his hip that happened last season. This week helps players like Dooner, and other teammates get back on their feet. Michael Quinn is another student who is recovering on this extra week.

“What we’ve been working on this week is basically footwork and technique, and luckily it doesn’t really involve too much contact,” Quinn said.

Dooner added, “we want to stay healthy as a team overall. I myself want to be healthy enough to play.”

Despite how low impact practices, the team is not taking it easy. They have been watching tape and studying.

“Bye week is a learning week, so our minds don’t get out of shape,” Quinn said.

The team has had light practices during the week. They watch films and do less contact, like wearing less pads.

“Every year is a new year and every year is a new journey. This group of boys this year has some very unique qualities that we really are growing to like and growing to love actually,” Kurz said.