With NFL football season in full swing, teams are gearing up for their chance of an ultimate record, and a chance at the playoffs.

But football teams aren’t the only ones preparing for their season. Families and friends gather around, researching the best hot topic players to lead their team to victory. Fantasy football has been the next best thing for a number of years now, where players create a league with their peers, fighting for the prize or bragging rights and trying to avoid the punishments.

Senior Brennan Sant plays in a fantasy league. His current record is 4 and 4 and he emphasized the importance of making good trades.

“We play for $200,” senior Brennan Sant said.

But before they’re able to get playing, players schedule what’s called a “draft day.” Players are randomly assigned an order number, waiting in line till it’s their turn to draft. When it is their time, they have two minutes to select any player, of any position, that has not already been chosen. This cycle continues until the player’s team is full.

Each week, a player is put against someone else in their  league, and there’s nothing they can do except watch football every Sunday, Monday and Thursday, hoping for a touchdown from their best players.

Fantasy football has been able to bring Sant nights with friends, huddled around the TV, waiting for a game changing play.

“[My friends] and I watch every Sunday,” Sant said.

While fantasy football has been known to be a fun tradition with peers, students also express their concerns with the stress it brings.

Senior Dylan Petersen, teammate and friend of Sant, has been struggling with his season so far.

“I lose by 2 points every week,” Petersen said.

Petersen also mentioned the amount of smack talk within the recent months, alluding to his 2-7 record. Keeping this in mind, Petersen plans to continue his season carefully, drawing attention to underdogs and newly risen star athletes.

Junior Gavin Grant relates to Petersen’s stress by expressing his concerns in his own league.

“I suck,” Grant said. “And everybody’s talking trash to me; it’s kind of stressful.”

But, turning the focus away from the actual game, these students fight to find the balance of school and football, trying to know when to gear their focus on one more than the other.

Sant said there are instances where they’re watching the games and doing school work at the same time.

“Sometimes on Monday nights it comes down to the last few seconds,” Sant said. “Sometimes you have to multitask to make sure you get your homework done, but also are supporting your team.”

But with all this in play, Sant said he wouldn’t give it up, liking the competitive fire it creates, and the lasting memories it brings.