Linden Patriots Sean, Darnell, and Marvin all have a few things in common. One is the last name Richardson. Another is a knack for big offensive plays. Another is a belief that the biggest reason for Linden’s revival from last season’s 1-9 record and eligibility forfeitures is that this year’s squad is playing as a team.

“We started coming in during the summer,” says Sean. “We’ve had a lot of practice, two-a-days. We’re more disciplined than we were last year. We’ve really come together as a team.”

“We had the whole team in here from day one,” Darnell says. “Summer, weekends…we’ve worked hard and we’ve improved a lot as a team.”

That improvement has shown itself in the win-loss column, where the Patriots are now 4-1 entering the second half of the season. According to the Richardsons, Linden’s biggest win to date came in the season opener against Woodland, last season’s 2A runner-up and a team that beat Linden 44-0 to open the 2004 season.

“That’s the best game we’ve played because we played together,” Sean says. “We took some inspiration from our coaches, came out, and played as one team.”

All three of the Richardsons found the end zone that game: quarterback Darnell threw two TD passes, one of them to wide receiver Sean, and fullback Marvin rumbled 60 yards for a score. Darnell says that the pitch-and-catch with Sean–a bomb along the left sideline that put the Patriots up 20-0 on their way to the 20-16 win–was the team’s biggest play of the year so far.

There are some differences between the trio, though. For starters, they’re not all related: Darnell, a junior, is a year older than his sophomore brother Sean, but to the best of their knowledge are only distantly related to Marvin, if at all

“It’s just a big coincidence,” Sean laughs.

There’s also a big difference in the athletic styles between the three. Sean is fast and rangy, Darnell is a little more compact and lightning-quick, and Marvin is a bruiser who prefers the punishing running style of NFL star Stephen Davis.

“I like to just aim straight down the field,” he says.