Mariner football team 1-2; hopeful
With their toughest match behind them, the Mariners nine-man football team hopes can only go up from here.By: LaReesa Sandretsky, Lake County News Chronicle
With their toughest match behind them, the Mariners nine-man football team hopes it can only go up from here.
Friday, Sept. 7, the boys lost to Northwoods, decidedly the toughest opponent in their conference, according to head coach Ward Kaiser and senior captains Kyle Blood and Leif Maxwell.
“We got a dose of reality in that game,” Blood said.
The Silver Bay team was the Section 5A champion last year and went on to the state tournament, where the players lost their first game. Almost half of their starters graduated last year, but they hope to build on the success of last year and have another positive season.
After their third game of the season, the team has a 1-2 record. See Bayside Chatter for Steve Gow’s report of their game against Mountain Iron-Buhl last Friday.
Teaching the younger, more inexperienced back field the basics of varsity play will help the team find success, Kaiser said.
“If we fix some things and get some more experience, we’ll do well,” he said.
When the team watches videos of its games, Kaiser said, he notices that almost all the plays are positive, meaning problems are small and can be remedied easily. They’ve just got a few weak spots of which good teams like Northwoods can take advantage.
“I’m hoping we can keep improving,” Kaiser said.
The Mariners have got a full schedule up until mid-October playoffs. Their junior high team is coached by Chris Belanger and Dan Johnson and younger varsity players will be participating in some JV games with the high school team when they can. Jamie Otterblad is the defensive coach for the varsity team.
Kaiser said the team will be relying on its older talent to keep them competitive, including seniors Blood, Maxwell and Preston Westerlund and juniors Luke Small, Jonah Koehler and Chad Smuk.
“Once the new guys start getting it, we’re going to be tough,” Blood said.
Tags: silver bay, sports, football
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