Last week, times for the Blue Devil football were tough.

Going into Friday night’s game against Central, the team had six out of the last seven games. Needless to say, the team was in need to motivation. Some of it came from within, but some of it came from unlikely outside sources.

Every team has its haters.  It’s true for professional sports. For example, some local football fans like junior Jaden Fairbanks or Morgan Haskin hate the Eagles, despite living near Philadelphia

Despite all their negativity, can haters make a team better, though? Perhaps they can, at least at the high school level. One example of this happened in Hammonton last week.

Prior to the playoff against Central Regional, senior Jack Rehmann wasn’t convinced the football team was in the best position to make a run in the playoffs, citing the struggle against Cherokee a few weeks earlier in which the team let up a devastating 35 points in one quarter.

When members of team grabbed  hold of this information, many had a new drive and commitment to the season to prove Rehmann and others wrong.

Rehmann acknowledged that there is possibly a connection between the two.

“Yes, they grew a hate for me [or at least what I said],” he stated. “And they gather around that hate, which fuels them to prove me wrong.”

Some interviews with team members revealed that comments like that don’t affect them. However, for others, it does drive them to try harder.  At least that was the case for sophomore Caleb Narty.

“[Jack] is my motivation to catch some wins in the playoffs,” he admitted.

The football team looks to catch another win in the semi final game against Highland at home this week on Robert Capoferri Field this Friday night. Some are driven by achieving their own goals. Others will go out on the field with that, and a desire to prove those “haters” wrong.