HOPKINS, Minn. — Things have been hard for the Hopkins football team.
"I was still having fun, it's just the winning aspect of football wasn't there," said senior offensive lineman Chase Vagle.
"We worked really hard on instilling a good culture," said Hopkins head coach Chauncy Williams-Barefield.
Hard is something he's never shied away from, in fact hard is the foundation of his program.
"Our team philosophy is go hard. Honest, accountable, relentless and disciplined," said Williams-Barefield.
Those pillars have led to a shift this fall for the Royals.
"Coach Chauncy is a great coach. I feel like I've learned a lot. With him being my coach, he's a great man, teaching me a lot of valuable life lessons," said junior safety Ignacio Cisneros.
"We feel we have a really talented coaching staff this year, and players. So we knew we could win,"
The Hopkins program entered the season having not won a varsity game since Nov. 11, 2020, with 29 consecutive losses by an average margin of defeat of 42 points.
"For you to put in all of that work, blood, sweat, tears, energy into something and not be able to taste the reward of it with a win for three-plus years, it's tough," said Williams-Barefield.
On Sept. 13, 1,402 days after their last varsity win, the Royals beat Eastview in overtime.
"I saw my friend Tanner, who's also a senior captain, and he was crying, so we hugged each other and cried for five minutes. I don't think I'll ever have a greater sports experience than that in my life," said Vagle.
Two key aspects of the turnaround include star basketball player Jayden Moore playing this fall. He entered this week leading the state in receiving yards this season, joining his freshman brother Tre, who starts at QB for the Royals.
"He's special. Athletically, there's not many kids that are as athletic as he is," said Williams-Barefield.
"It's been amazing. It's been great. That brother-to-brother connection has been great. Experiencing this is cool, we used to do this back in our neighborhood, we'd play all the time," said junior wide receiver Jayden Moore.
Scheming up the dynamic Moore duo is former Gophers QB Bryan Cupito, the Royals' first-year offensive coordinator.
"He's been amazing. He's helped me sleep well at night knowing that I don't have to worry about the offense," said Williams-Barefield.
Those ingredients all help propel the Royals to new heights this fall, including a new type of streak.
"I've been a part of a lot of teams, and this team is different, this is special," said Vagle.
"I'm just really happy to be a part of history. Finally breaking the streak, and the best part about it is we just started a new streak," said Cisneros.