“My favorite thing about this team is that they are hungry. They have been using the end of last year to drive them in the offseason, and we have seen tremendous growth from a lot our players,” said head coach Chris Hernandez.
The West Central Trojans finished as the 11A state runners-up after falling to Dell Rapids in the championship game. The team finished with an overall record of 10-2.
While the Trojans return 37 letter winners from last season, they only return nine to the starting lineup, six on offense and three on defense. Seniors Crew Heier, Jesse Jost, Layton Johnson, Gavin Pischke, Ashton Engen, Chet Carda, and Jude Jarding return. They are joined by lone junior Aiden Bartmann who started in 2022. West Central will look to Trevin Price, Anthony Bjergaard, Karsen Wilde, Keaton Vessels, Cyrus Maras, Caden Alfsono, Cody Opits, Creighton Sandholm, Chandler Carda, Carter Gross, and Sam Handberg to produce on the field this season.
“We played a lot of juniors last year who are now seniors, and those seniors will need to fill the shoes of the seniors we lost off of last year’s team. Offensively we will need to be able to run the ball consistently and not depend on the quarterback position to be our leading rusher. Defensively we will need to play fast, force turnovers, force field goal attempts and fourth downs, and not give up touchdowns,” said Hernandez. “I think this is a very close group. Our seniors are on year three in our system, so they know what the expectations are. The juniors have only known the system we are running, and they are a big group. I think from a physical standpoint we will be more suited for our type of football.”
The Trojans travel to Custer on Saturday, August 26th to start their 2023 season.
