Editor's Note: Matt Gambill is a senior at Dover High School and a wide receiver/defensive back on the DHS football team. His Varsity Insider column will appear each week throughout the season.

Last Friday night we lost to a very good football team. There is no doubt in my mind that Exeter is one of the most well-coached teams in the state. I am struggling with accepting either that they were the better team or if we just didn't give it enough desire to win.

Exeter's offense put up over 280 yards and 24 points; we put up over 270 yards and zero points.  There is a point in life where you must look at yourself and wonder if you did everything you could to accomplish what you wanted. It is the worst when you lay awake at night thinking of "what ifs."  I would have liked to have been lying awake knowing that we did everything we could to win, but they were simply the better team. 

Exeter is a great team there is no doubt about that. They proved that Friday night, but there is something bothering me about the result.  What if we would have played better?

Lance Armstrong once said "Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."  We, as a team, have caused a lot of pain; to our coaches, teammates, family members, and community.  We have had too many ups and downs this season. This team once controlled its destiny for the playoffs, now we have to hope for some crazy scenario to get in. 

If we give up on ourselves and this season, we will cause a lot more pain. Our focus for the next month has to be on becoming a winning football team. We still have a chance at a winning season. I would much rather go out as a winner, than a "what if." 

This pain we have caused to everyone can be forgotten if we show how much desire we truly have.  If we come out in the next game with more will to win than we showed in all previous games combined, then the pain will subside. There are mistakes that I have made in the season that may have had an effect on the outcome of the game. Personally, I will not be able to get over those mistakes until I have shown that I want to win more than anyone else in the country. I know the rest of the Dover Football Family feels the same way about their mistakes. The greater the struggle, the greater the reward.