23 August 2023
SENECA, KS. (KSNT) – Nemaha Central football was perfect last year. Finishing with a 13-0 record and a 2A state championship.
With a new year and a new team, the Thunder are trying to march forward and create a new self.
“We’re a new team,” senior lineman Abe Hilbert said. “We’re trying to make sure we do it like last year, get better one percent every day, but at the same time have a new identity and a new team.”
Even with a new identity, the team realizes the good parts of the team prior.
“We’re definitely bringing the intensity, bringing every bit of fire they had last year,” senior lineman Holden Bass said. “We’re bringing the focus they brought, there was very little horsing around.”
However, with nine seniors on last year’s squad that played both sides of the ball, including all-state picks Conor Deters and Cooper Hajek, it’s hard to simply ‘replace.’
“When you lose a guy like that, like Conor, Cooper, even though their gone, their fingerprints on the program is still there, and you can still learn a lot from those guys and try to achieve what they did,” Hilbert said.
The fingerprints they left behind are mostly seen during the weeks leading up to a game.
“In practice, it was just the mentality they brought,” Bass said. “The, ‘We have to get better every day, because enough is never enough.’ And that really helped me feel the drive to get up every morning and come to practice.”
The end goal is to do what happened last year, but for the Thunder, they focus on who’s next.
“Week-by-week,” senior Josh Gonzalez said. “Keep pushing for the next game.”
Nemaha Central starts its campaign to repeat on September 1 against Holton.