Each year there are over 1.1 million high schoolers in America that play football. Only one of these players is the Leyden quarterback. His name is Matthew Aguirre. Matthew Aguirre is a senior that loves the game of football, partakes in many extracurriculars, and one day aspires to become an engineer. Matthew’s football career started from humble beginnings several years ago. He reminisces through the words, “I’d say my dad. He first introduced me to it, and he kind of wanted me to play. My mom definitely did not want me to play, but I was eventually able to convince her, and now I’m here.”  Once he began to play it was evident Matt was hooked through the sentiment, “It’s just what I love to do. I’ve been playing it for four years, and, you know, it’s just never been a dull moment with football” Being the quarterback of a team isn’t all fun and games though. At times Matthew is pushed to his limits in preparation for the ever important Friday night lights. Even under this pressure Matt has always risen to the occasion. He reminisces on these times with the words, “Some days in the middle of summer when it’s 100 degrees outside we have to run gassers or whatever conditioning we have for that day. You know, it’s hard, but I’ve never thought about quitting, and especially now looking back on it, all those hard times are definitely worth it. So, yeah, there were hard times, but I don’t regret any of it.”, and “My team, my team definitely motivates me to push through injury because I just got to show up for them every week. And yeah, I gotta be there for them.” Even though football can be difficult, Matthew pushes through the pain, and finds that at the end of the week there’s a payoff. He says, “It’s just exciting, you know, whether it’s the crowd showing up and just being loud, whether it’s just a good game for me or the team, I think it’s just, it’s just a combination of things that makes it exciting for the players and the fans.” Matthew has also put some thought into his time off the field as he knows one day he won’t lace up the cleats. He says, “I’m planning to go to college. I don’t know if I’m going for football yet or not, but I’d like to go into something in engineering, maybe industrial engineering, something along those lines.” ,and “It was just kind of something I realized I liked. I’ve taken a couple of engineering classes” For now Matthew plans to finish up his senior year by preparing for the future and having no regrets. Looking back he says, “I would do everything exactly the same. Because I just, I love this team. I love the sport, and, you know, it’s just been a fun four years.” Matthew’s future truly is as bright as the lights he has played under for the last 4 years.