Vova Razryvin doesn’t give up. From learning English after moving from Belarus to the United States to his days figuring out the game of football at the age of 14, he has shown he does not give up when tough times arrive.

More than anything else, that may be the biggest reason Razryvin has remained the starting quarterback for Moore, despite the team posting an 0-8 record. While other coaches may have tried out other players, MHS coach Scott Myers knows the value Razryvin brings to the position and to the team.

“It’s his competitive nature,” Myers said. “Each week he gets better. He gets a little more comfortable. I feel like he is running the offense right now. He understands what we want. He makes a lot of checks and calls on his own as far as getting us out of a bad situation and into a good situation. I feel like at this point right now, he is as good as he has been.”

Razryvin’s number are not spectacular, but considering how the team started, they are impressive. He has thrown for 524 yards, three touchdowns and 13 interceptions on 91-of-196 passing. All three of his TD passes came in last week’s 55-30 loss to Del City.

With him also leading the team in rushing, Razryvin has transformed into a dual threat quarterback since the start of the season. His coaching staff believes that opens up other players to make plays. And it showed in the loss to the Eagles.

“What we were really impressed with was the balance on the offense,” Myers said. “Running Chris Clark and David Cowen inside and running Vova and Chris Clark on the outside with the option game. Then Vova throwing the ball downfield, converting first downs and picking up some plays. The balance of the whole thing.”

But the most important thing Myers saw against Del City was a team that was still fighting. Even as players have been dismissed from the team and losses have mounted, he was encouraged by the team’s effort.

“To be 0-8 and see the things that I saw in week 8 for the last three quarters of that game, they are still coming together,” Myers said. “Still playing hard, still doing things we are asking them to do. For about three quarters they were competitive with a team that has a chance to go win this district. We are doing things right and getting better, we are just not coming out on the scoreboard side. I know a lot of people can look at it and it’s 55-30, we are giving up a lot of points and not scoring very many sometimes. To be inside and see the happenings of it day by day, we are 100 percent better football team than we were last year.”

Razryvin has two games left in his first season at quarterback for the Lions. Even though every game he has started has ended with a defeat, the 5-10, 170-pound junior hasn’t thrown in the towel.

“I’ve learned no matter what happens you just have to keep on trying,” Razryvin said. “Last year was the same thing. But we won that one game and it got us excited. We have a lot of young players again. We are all juniors and sophomores. We have only four or five seniors that play on the team. You just have to keep on trying.”

The one game Razryvin is referring to was the Lions lone victory last season. It came against Southmoore, who they will face-off with Friday night at Moore Stadium. The odds are stacked against Moore knocking off the fourth-ranked SaberCats (7-1, 4-1 District 6A-1), but Razryvin is not conceding anything. He knows how much a win could mean for the program that has lost three starters the past few weeks.

“It’s tough on the guys,” Razryvin said. “It’s not fun to go 0-8. It’s tough mentally. Every week we go through practice just like anybody does in the state. We practice hard, it’s just the other teams are better than us. But I think the team is excited for this week. It’s a big game. We won this game last year. We want to keep the tradition going.”