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01/21/2016 11:00 PMNorth Branford senior George Poleschuk was in love with football from the second he started with the sport and always liked how he could use his size to play physical against his opponent. George was dedicated to making himself a better football player and so he stopped playing lacrosse after his sophomore year in order to bulk up and improve his technique on the gridiron.
“I just wanted to focus more on football and spend more time in the weight room,” says George. “Most of the time when I think about football, the most amount of time I spend is in weight room. I try to be the first one in and last one out. It’s fun with my friends. We worked out together and I liked the competition side of it. I liked competing to see if I could one-up my buddies. It made us better.”
George, who’s listed at 6-foot-2 and 232 pounds, has played defensive end throughout his football career. He started at the position since his sophomore year at North Branford and proved an instrumental part of the defense for Head Coach Mark Basil’s squad.
“He’s a three-year starter for us and probably one of the most dominating defensive linemen I’ve ever had in my 14 years at North Branford. He plays football as if he’s in the military. He’s very structured, very regimental, very disciplined, and he works out the same way. He’s a great leader by example in the weight room and does everything you hope for,” says Basil. “George plays with a lot of respect and is just a complete player. I mean that in the sense that he does everything you can ask for on the football field and does it in such a way with a high level of intensity that raises the level of the rest of your team. That’s why he was such an important player on our team.”
As a result of these attributes, George earned the title of captain for his recent senior season. George embraced the role and he especially enjoyed boosting up all the underclass athletes who competed for the Thunderbirds.
“I liked having other kids look up to me. I felt on the field I can lead the team. To me, it felt like I had a more important role to try harder and show them that I’m always pushing myself so everyone else needs to,” says George. “Last year, I had a lot of experienced kids surrounding me on defense. This year, that was the biggest obstacle. The biggest factor is that guys weren’t confident. As a leader, I needed to give the younger guys confidence. My outside linebacker right behind me was a freshman, so during the games, I’d try to talk to him and make sure he’s confident because that’s the only way we’d all play well.”
George excelled for North Branford this past fall by finishing first on the team in sacks with 9.5 and second in tackles with 93. He earned a spot on the All-Pequot Conference Team, was recognized by the New Haven Football Foundation, named the T-Birds’ Defensive Player of the Year, and was also North Branford’s Scholar Athlete. For his career, George recorded 172 tackles and 13.5 sacks. He also played on the offensive line and was the T-Birds’ best player at that position, according to Coach Basil.
“I think it’s very important. It’s a good thing to show off,” says George of the awards. “It really means a lot. It says that all that hard work I spent putting in, I have something to show for it.”
George says he’s still considering his options to compete at the collegiate level, naming Salve Regina and Western New England as the front-runners for the next phase of his football career.
“A football team is different from any other,” says George. “It’s like a family or brotherhood, which is why I don’t want to stop playing.”