The football team has been preparing for their upcoming season by working out four days a week at 7:30 every morning before school started. The goal of these off-season workouts was to “outwork every other team before leaving the weight room each day,” a theme put forward by Coach Kennedy, as further reemphasized by Jacob Gravenkamp (‘15).
Although Coach Kennedy had intended each player to have goals of outworking the powerhouse teams of Division 2, such as Kimberly, Arrowhead, and Homestead, some players had dreams of outworking their friends and teammates. Mattias Hoehnen (‘15) illustrated this when he was asked who he wanted to outwork and answered with fellow teammate Mitchell Ahmad (‘15). Until the final week of July, the boys’ football team gave their best effort to outwork all other teams and each other.
Coming off of a week of rest, the football team hit the practice field for practice Aug. 4. The team spent three long hours on the field in the heat of summer, followed by another hour of either film study or workouts in the weight room.
For two weeks, the offense and defense worked against each other, making the other side better while learning in the process. In the first week, the team had a practice with Greendale, each with impressive plays. Ultimately, both teams walked away with a better perspective of in which areas they needed to improve.
The following Friday, the team squared up against Whitnall, Beaver Dam, and Racine Case. Although it was good showing, the offense started off very slowly against Whitnall. The defense followed the offense with contrasting energy and set a new tone for the scrimmage. From there on, the offense clicked and the defense remained stout. With a lot of improvements to be made coming into the regular season, the team faced off against Whitefish Bay, a perennial team with a lot of confidence, character and pride.
The Lancer football team is looking forward to a successful season, expecting nothing less than a trip to Madison. As Coach Kennedy stated when he was first brought on, “We are not here to compete for conference championships; we are here to compete for State Titles.”