LG football gettin’ ready to rumble

By Valorie Brecht The inaugural season of the Loyal-Greenwood (LG) varsity football team is about to begin, and excitement is in the air. Coaches say they’ve been pleased with how the players from both school districts have bonded together and committed to the team.

There are about 45 players between the two schools, along with a couple managers from each. On their own, Greenwood and Loyal had 16 and 30 players, respectively, last year. This year’s team is sophomore and junior dominated, but there is still a solid core of seniors.

“We were both young teams last year, but still have some that have seen significant playing time on the field. We also have several that are joining the program at an older age,” said Dean Lindner, co-head coach from Greenwood.

He said one advantage with having a larger pool of athletes is that one person doesn’t have to play offense, defense and special teams. They can focus their attention on one area.

The young men received their equipment and completed speed and strength testing on Aug. 5. They started practice Aug. 6. Although practice began just a couple of weeks ago, the athletes have had regular workout opportunities throughout the summer and attended a three-day training camp at River Falls in July.

“I think they’ve done a really good job the last week and a half, just with togetherness, working together and pushing each other. And holding each other accountable,” said Chris Lindner, the co-head coach from Loyal. “I think it’s been better than I’ve seen it in a long time with our program.”

“It’s been tremendously better on our side too,” said Dean. “And one of the kids’ goals when we sat down with them this spring and talked to them, I would say the large majority, their number-one goal was they wanted to create a cohesive team… And I would say they’re well on their way to that. We had a summer camp where we took the kids for three days at River Falls, and by halfway through day two, you could look out that room and you couldn’t pick out kids from one school or another. They were all mingled, all laughing together.”

“So it’s been good since then,” finished Chris.

To prepare for the season, Dean and Chris tried to do their due diligence to ease the transition into a co-op program. At the start of the season, they held individual meetings with every player and their parents to go over expectations for the season and answer any questions. The assistant coaches were also included in these meetings, so players got a chance to meet everyone.

Chris and Dean also visited a few other schools in the area with successful football programs to see how they do things. LG practices have been a mixture of things done in Loyal and in Greenwood, with some other programs mixed in. They also started working on special teams earlier this season than in previous seasons.

Dean introduced compete drills, which are short contests or games that pit the athletes against each other.

“They love to compete, so they’ve really taken to that. And they’re all football related. We explain to the kids exactly how it will work on the field. It really brings out their competitive juices… And that’s something we’ve picked up from programs that have been successful other places,” said Dean.

The coaches have made an effort to keep things as even as possible. Chris is partnering with Aaron Greisen from Greenwood to coach defense, while Dean is working with Cody Halpin and focusing on offense. They said they seemed to balance each other out, as far as strengths and weaknesses.

“We have a great coaching staff, so the kids are constantly being evaluated in all their drills. They are watching all the positions and can recognize when a kid is working their way to the top,” said Dean.

The coaches recognize LG will be jumping into a tough conference, including teams such as Marathon, Stratford, Amherst and Spencer-Columbus. However, they are looking to embrace the challenge and asking their players to do the same.

“Our goal is to keep our competitive drive throughout the year,” said Chris.

“We’ve definitely been placed in a strong conference, and our expectation is to compete and win,” said Dean. “We’d rather play those good teams and see where we stand.”

“We want to play competitive football and work to get better every week,” said Chris.

The coaches have planned a few special themed home games to bring the communities together. Sept. 6 will be veterans’ night. Sept. 27 will honor both communities’ police officers, firefighters and EMTs, as well as recognize the youth players. Oct. 11 will be homecoming and Oct. 18 will be senior night.

They also said they appreciated the support they had received from the community and local businesses.

The coaches pointed out that the program is about more than running a ball down the field; it’s about shaping young men into future leaders.

“We want to instill the characteristics of hard work, grit and things like that,” said Chris.

TheLGfootballteamencourageseveryone to come out and support them at their home opener against Abbotsford, this Friday, Aug. 23, at Loyal at 7 p.m. It will be parents’ night.