Hundreds of students gather themselves on the bleachers. The roaring from the crowd overpowers your thoughts. The stadium lights are flashing. Parents clutch their cameras to capture every moment. Players build up with confidence by being cheered on by their teammates. While stepping onto the field, they look up at the scoreboard in front of them.

Head coach Adam Ratkevich has high hopes for their season, he believes that the defense is underrated and the offense is safe as usual. 

“We’ve got some tremendous talent at wide receiver, one of the best slot combinations in the state, [seniors] Santana Fleming and British Mitchell. Round that out with [seniors] Nelson Walker and Ben Sherota, and [Justin] Tedim at tight end. Pretty outstanding core of athletes there,” Ratkevich said.

Ratkevich bragged about his players, showing how much trust there is within these people. Quarterback Collin Hurst, as a four year starter, will continue to help this team win. He said critics tend to view the season based on the papers and television. 

“[Quarterback] Collin Hurst is obviously going into his fourth as our starting quarterback; he’s one of the best in the state,” Ratkevich said. 

 The coaches predict Hurst will continue to make an impact and leave for college with his greatest ability being known by all.

“[Hurst] has total command in the offense; he knows where to go with the football,” offensive coordinator James O’Brien said. 

Both coaches agree that Hurst is here to lead the offense and benefit the team with exceptional passes to his offense and good thinking skills to get the ball somewhere the coaches didn’t think would be an open spot to get to. When having a four-year starting quarterback that has helped them win a good amount of games the last couple of years, the coaches have built confidence and certainty that Hurst will continue to get the ball to his receivers to gain yards and touchdowns.

They added that the defensive team is generally underrated. So many new players on the starting lineup  causes people to have doubts, but the coaches believe they’ll  be outstanding. This is because the new defensive lineup is a larger, more athletic group. They are able to take down the offense with their ability to run into them to stop a play. 

With top stars graduating last year, Hurst leads a new but hungry group. The athleticism seen on all of them is going to be shown throughout every game coaches said. They are going to play how they have been training the past couple of months. According to coaches, their actions in every game are going to be embedded in the brains of the coaches and seen from the sidelines of their fellow classmates.