Sorry to burst any bubbles but Fall is just days away. 40 or so I know but that's still not too far off! Like many of you I'm full intent on taking advantage of the great weather that we get during the non-school months but the fact remains, Fall is coming. With it will come the array of colored leaves on the trees and in the grass, the cooler temperatures and FOOTBALL. For some that last one can't come fast enough, so with that in mind I present to you this year's Forewords to Football.
A special thank you to coach Troy Mattern for taking the time to answer my questions!
If you could go back and change one thing from the championship game, other than just the final score, what would it be & why?
"Our football team didn't face a lot of adversity throughout the season and when we were placed in some tough situations in that game, we struggled to overcome. Even though we didn't win that game, to be able to be around that football team day in and day out was better than any championship. The character of our kids was unbelievable."
If you don't mind, I would also like to know if there are any ways that you will begin preparing for your ascension to AAA over the course of the 2018 season?
"Most of my coaching staff was with my at Fargo South and the coaches that stayed on at Shanley coached back when Shanley was in AAA. From that standpoint, we feel we already run our program like a AAA program in terms of the way we prepare day in and day out and in the offseason. Our main focus is to continue to build our program from our youth on up so we continue to have that continuity with our younger players and coaches. We will never have the number of kids that the public schools have but we feel we will always have the right kids that believe in our mission."
And now to look at the upcoming season, what will the loss of Jake Kava mean to your team? Which player or players in particular do you hope will step up to try and fill his "shoes?"
"I'm really excited about our football team this fall, we return a lot of kids from last year. They have worked extremely hard this offseason and are ready to bring that championship back to Fargo Shanley."
What about overall, is there an area or two of your team that you think will be it's strength come the Fall?
"Our team speed will be our strongest asset. We have a lot of kids that are fast and athletic. We will definitely use that to our advantage as we build our playbook around those players."