O’Donnell Mentor Group Wins House Fantasy Football League

ODonnell+Mentor+Group+Wins+House+Fantasy+Football+League

Jack Carrow

The House Fantasy Football Competition ended with O’Donnell’s MS8 defeating Meyer’s 309. The competition, which started back in September, ran all the way through the NFL regular season, which ended in December.

It was the first time Chaminade has done something of this nature. When it was decided there would be no House Competition or Red Devil Relay this year due to the Coronavirus, the House Captains needed to come up with new ways to earn house points. They decided on a schoolwide Fantasy Football League, with houses earning points each week, and bonus points were awarded for winning each of the four leagues. O’Donnell wins 3 additional bonus points for winning the playoffs.

When asked about the decision to create the fantasy league, Meyer House Captain, Carson Glynn, said that, “We knew it was going to be tough to find some ways for houses to earn points towards the House Cup race. With all of the restrictions in place, there wasn’t many things you could do in person. We needed to come up with some virtual events that would be intriguing to the whole student body. A couple of the captains came up with the idea of doing a fantasy football league, and it worked out well.”

Each mentor group was assigned to one of the four leagues, which consisted of ten teams (one middle school and one high school mentor group from each house). The draft took place in mentor group, and it seemed to be a huge hit. “I remember walking around from mentor group to mentor group on draft day, and it was awesome to see how intrigued and involved everyone was with it. After seeing how interested everyone was, we knew we had made the right decision,” says Glynn. Furthermore, he states, “We were worried that some mentor groups would stop caring after a couple weeks went by, but we continued to get positive feedback from senior leaders and mentors, which was very reassuring.”

While some leagues were closer than others, there was no doubt that a majority of the school was thrilled with having a fantasy league. It was a fun way to get the whole mentor group involved, as there would sometimes be debates on who to start and who to sit. A main part of the House System is competition, and with no House Competition, Attendance Events, or Red Devil Relay, it is tough to maintain that competition. The fact that the fantasy league brought this competition in a safe and healthy way is huge for not only the House Cup, but for students in general.

Although there were many teams that finished with great records, four made it to the playoffs: Meyer 309, Mauclerc MS 4, O’Donnell MS 8, and Lamaurous 201. After two close semi-final matchups, Meyer and O’Donnell found themselves in the championship game. “The championship game had to have been the best part of the whole thing, as both teams were loaded with talent and very close to each other in the House Cup standings,” says Glynn.

In the end, O’Donnell came out on top, which moved them to third overall in the House Cup standings at the time. The House Fantasy Football Competition was a huge success, and it will be interesting to see if it is brought back when things go back to normal at Chaminade.