After a two-year hiatus the Loyal Greyhounds have their eyes on a playoff spot.
Chris Lindner starts his 17th year as coach of the Greyhounds, while Tom Vinege will begin his second season as co-head coach.
Linder likes his returning players and he has plenty of them, as 20 of 22 starters are back.
"As far as the season goes, we have some good experience back from last year," Lindner said. "With the experience coming back, we should be competitive in the conference."
The Greyhounds won three games a season ago, including one by forfeit, and just one game the previous season. But, many of their games were close last season and they play in an ultra-competitive Cloverwood conference.
Gone is their all-purpose quarterback Cale Cuddie who led the team in rushing, passing and touchdowns.
After limited action last year, Dylan Much and Mitch Pohlman return to the backfield.
Mason Froeba led the team in receiving yards (290) on 17 receptions, while Much and Pohlman caught a combined 28 balls. Froeba will be the go-to-guy after flashing playmaking ability a season ago, averaging 18 yards per catch and hauling in six touchdowns.
Junior Logan Fulwiler is poised to replace Cuddie as the quarterback behind returning linemen Daniel Russow and Tyler Parker.
Juniors expected to contribute are Alex Schuette (TE/DL), Andrew Szymanski, (RB/LB), Dennis Larson (OL/LB), Nick Schmitz, (OL/DL) Luke Zimmerman (TE/DL) and Alec Anderson (OL/LB).
"Staying healthy, like every other teaam, is going to be important to us because of our numbers," Lindner said. "As far as the conference is concerned, I believe that it will be a very competitive conference again this year. I do not see a clear cut front-runner in the conference, but many teams that could challenge for the top spot."
