Before Felton Grove High School had a football field to practice on, John Mozerka and his assistant coaches were working out of his house, packing their cars before sunrise, going from park to park to practice with their newly formed team.
On Thursday night, those coaches were embracing after the program’s first varsity victory, celebrating with players who had worked through those same challenges.
Felton Grove defeated Western Guilford 21-0 on Thursday night in what was the first-ever varsity home football game, earning a milestone win in just two tries. The Galaxy improved to 1-1 after playing a junior varsity schedule in 2025.
Mozerka said the stadium was packed, Gatorade baths happened across the field, and players were climbing into the student section.
For a program that had spent more than a year building a program from scratch, the celebration felt like winning the Super Bowl.
Mozerka’s message to his team after the game was simple.
“You deserve this,” he recalled. “Embrace it with your families, your friends, the student section.”
Mozerka had experience rebuilding programs in the past. Before taking the job at Felton Grove, he was the head football coach at Apex High School, which was founded more than 100 years ago.
Starting a program from nothing was a different challenge for him.
During the summer of 2025, the campus at Felton Grove had not opened as construction was completed before the school year started, so Mozerka’s house served as the home base for his coaching staff. The mornings began around 4:30 or 5:00 when coaches packed cars with equipment and supplies and drove to whatever park or gym they could use that day.
Sometimes the team started at one park, then had to pick up and move to another park in the middle of practice.
“The time commitment for this team is probably the most time that I’ve asked for coaches ever to put in,” Mozerka said. “We were gonna figure out a way from day one. These kids deserved that.”
And the players bought in immediately.
“Kids never complained one time. They just wanted to play football,” Mozerka said.
After Thursday’s win, Mozerka made a point of enjoying it with his coordinators and thanking them for the time they had invested. The celebration carried the weight of everything they had done to reach that moment.
A fast start and a defensive shutout
Felton Grove gave its home crowd something to celebrate almost immediately, scoring a 50-yard touchdown on the first offensive play for the Galaxy.
Sam Lewis caught the first touchdown pass, and he also helped make sure Western Guilford didn’t answer. Mozerka credited Lewis with 12 tackles and two interceptions, in addition to his touchdown reception.
“The guy was all over the place,” Mozerka said.
Mozerka also praised Zeke Franck, who helped lead the defense while carrying the ball on offense, and junior Chase Phillips, whose work on the defensive line stood out to Mozerka when watching the game film.
The shutout highlighted a point of emphasis in practice before the game — finishing tackles and getting the entire defense to the ball. Mozerka said the defense was “dialed in.”
The defense even made a stand when Mozerka decided to go for it on fourth down from his own 30-yard line.
“I probably shouldn’t have done that, but they bailed us out of that too,” Mozerka said with a laugh.
The defensive performance was a big step forward from the season opener at Green Hope, where Felton Grove led at halftime before losing 31-20. Mozerka said the Galaxy ran out of gas as the game went on, which led to poor tackling down the stretch.
Mozerka and his staff made adjustments to help players stay fresh the full game, and the players executed.
A young roster learning together
Felton Grove does not have a senior class. Mozerka said 18 starters are freshmen or sophomores, including four freshmen, and many play both offense and defense.
That youth makes the learning process important. Coaches are going back to the basics, teaching alignments, how to read opponents, and what terminology means — things that experienced varsity players probably already understand.
Mozerka said the staff can’t assume players know what a term means.
The coaching staff also had to figure out how to bring kids from different communities together to create a new team. Some players came to Felton Grove after playing as a freshman at other schools.
Coaches held leadership book studies and team-building activities, which included lessons about being a dependable teammate. Mozerka says those things translate directly into family and community life too.
With such a young roster, the staff discussed whether or not Felton Grove should make the jump to varsity football this season, but Mozerka said the coaches believed the team could make the transition while being careful about player safety.
He knows difficult matchups are ahead. The Galaxy still has to develop size, strength, and depth that come with a typical varsity roster, and there isn’t a senior class to lead the way.
Those lessons and this experience of building a program from the ground up have changed Mozerka as a coach, he says.
“I think I’ve become a way better coach,” he said.
The goal now is steady improvement.
“We just improve and improve and improve,” Mozerka said. “So I just want to see that growth throughout the rest of the year.”
Thursday gave the Galaxy its first varsity win. The rest of the season will give Mozerka more opportunities to measure how far his team has come.
