I love what the Santa Rita football team did this year.

Flash back to a year ago. They were a team adrift- without leadership, maturity, and wins. They were the team everyone wanted for their homecoming opponent, the sure win.

Flash forward 12 months. Santa Rita came one win and a poorly-timed rainstorm away from a shot at the state championship. Would you have believed 12 months ago that they would be there? Probably not. But that doesn’t matter.

What matters is that they believed. What matters is that last year’s underclassmen- this year’s seniors- took it upon themselves to turn things around.

Winning is not easy. It takes sacrifice, dedication, teamwork and a tremendous effort. If winning was easy, everyone would do it.

Losing is easy. Losing takes no effort, and even worse- losing breeds more losing. With each loss, it becomes slightly easier to lose.

Ask the U of A football program how hard it is to turn a program into a winner.

But that’s just what they did at Santa Rita. In one season. They went from losers to winners. They got their community to rally around them.

Take a look at the photo gallery here on HSGametime.com, I’d be willing to bet that 12 months ago you wouldn’t find anything from Santa Rita on this website. Today, there are hundreds of photos, user blogs, videos… they’re impossible to miss.

Today Santa Rita’s football players can wear their varsity jackets with pride, owners of one of the best stories in Southern Arizona High School football history.

No question, last week’s loss in the playoffs hurts. That may be the best sign of all that things have turned around.

To the Santa Rita Seniors- soon enough the sting of a bitter defeat will pass and you will remember the amazing moments, the incredible times, and the feeling of participating in a winning program. You now know what it takes, the sacrifice, the sweat, the blood and the tears. Soon, you will look back at this great season and know you took part in something special, something that your school and your community will never forget. There will be pictures of you on the school walls for years, and today’s children will be told of your games when they grow to be Santa Rita Varsity Football players, and carry on the tradition that you resurrected in the Summer of 2007. You are legend, if only in the halls of your school.

I am sure I’m only exaggerating slightly.

To the Santa Rita underclassmen- don’t let it end here. You hold in your hands the future of the football program. Hold on tight to the bitterness of last week’s defeat. Let it motivate you, let it drive you. Think of last Friday with every weight you lift and every sprint you run. Never quit. When you feel like stopping- lift some more, run some more, work harder than your opponent. Work later than your opponent. Want it more than your opponent. Next year’s underclassmen will work from your example. Protect what you helped build this season.

Your time to celebrate will come.

Until then, there is work to do.

Brian is Creative Services Director for FOX 11and My Tucson TV-18.