{"id":1454,"date":"2011-09-02T07:16:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T12:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/?p=1454"},"modified":"2011-12-12T08:16:55","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T13:16:55","slug":"new-players-same-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/09\/new-players-same-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"New players, same goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Carli Striker & Lauren Parker
\n<\/strong>managing sports & out of bounds<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re bigger. They\u2019re faster. They\u2019re stronger. Playing against older and more experienced opponents is a challenge that the DHS varsity football team faces after losing many key seniors from the past season. When they rebuilt their starting lineup, many underclassmen had to step up in the roles that had been recently vacated. This forced the new members of the team to rise to the challenge both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Brennan Miller knows how much of a challenge he faces as the new quarterback, especially being an underclassman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel the pressure to perform,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAnd as a sophomore quarterback I have a huge role and I have to be able to lead the team.\u201d <\/p>\n

Miller isn\u2019t the only underclassman who feels the immense pressure. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can feel the pressure but that is expected in football,\u201d junior David Laursen said. \u201cIt helps being an underclassman knowing I have one more year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole Skinner, a junior who plays cornerback gets excited playing on a varsity level, but is also not immune to the stress he is put under.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get nervous,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to mess up in front of everyone, and sometimes I do.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, he has been adapting to playing with players who are quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot faster paced game,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cIf you miss a play you have to put it behind you and get it out of your head.\u201d <\/p>\n

On the other hand junior Gavin Groszek said that he is used to the pressure of the varsity games since he played last year, and that being an underclassman is actually beneficial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seniors are the leaders of the team so it\u2019s more on their shoulders,\u201d Groszek said. <\/p>\n

Despite how the younger players may or may not be nervous about the experience they have had a good bonding experience with the upperclassmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey accept us on the team, and expect us to play,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cThey understand that if we are good enough we are going to play.\u201d <\/p>\n

Junior Alex Hus agrees with Laursen and said that the upperclassmen are pretty accepting if hard work and dedication is displayed. However, he has a different take on the team chemistry and actually takes out age as a factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are like a big family and we don\u2019t really look at age,\u201d Hus said.<\/p>\n

Hus added that he was worried having his older brother, Matt Hus, on the team would have been weird. However, he admitted it has been nice, and even brought the brothers closer together.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, in addition to the bonding, the morale has elevated among the players. An example is the relationship between Miller and his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though he is still young, he stepped up into the role almost naturally and took responsibility as quarterback,\u201d senior Alex Zahn said. \u201cHis confidence has risen dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

For senior captain Ben McRae, this season has brought a lot of change, but he\u2019s learning to adapt to the new players. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot different this year because I\u2019ve always played with the older kids,\u201d McRae said. \u201cBut we have to get used to this because Brennan is quarterback and most starters are juniors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with a shaky start to the season with the team losing their first two games to Saginaw High School and Flint Northern High School, some of the players look back on their mistakes in those games and are looking to improve from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we could have won those first few games, we just made some mistakes on both offense and defense that ended up letting them score,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cIn the game against Flint Southwestern we won because we didn\u2019t make these mistakes on offense or defense and we were able to hold them off from the beginning.\u201d <\/p>\n

Senior captain Travis Schultz agrees with Skinner and believes that their younger players can give them an edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we will improve more during the year than other teams because we have such a young team,\u201d Schultz said. <\/p>\n

Schultz isn\u2019t the only senior captain who has faith in the young team. McRae realizes the team\u2019s weaknesses but also sees the potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect us to get better every week and develop team chemistry so they can be better next year,\u201d McRae said. \u201cThere is a lack of experience, but that\u2019s all around, not just because we\u2019re younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skinner also looks forward to the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beginning of our season just feels like a building point,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cWe\u2019re not bad as everyone\u2019s saying. I think there\u2019s hope that we can win more games.\u201d <\/p>\n

Laursen is keeping a positive attitude as well and was excited about the first win and is expectant for what the rest of the season may bring. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like a lot of kids were starting to get down but after that win the tempo at practice was clearly raised,\u201d Laursen said.<\/p>\n

Now about half way through the season, with all of the team looking ahead the boys are hoping to only improve their season. Plus having the crowd cheering is an added bonus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unbelievable,\u201d Alex said. \u201cI think it adds to the pressure, but I love it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a fresh football team this year, DHS plans for success<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[45,41,57,42],"class_list":["post-1454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3feature","category-3-sports","tag-dow-high-sports","tag-feature-stories","tag-sports-spories","tag-student-activities-dow-high"],"yoast_head":"\nNew players, same goal - UPDATE ONLINE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/09\/new-players-same-goal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New players, same goal - UPDATE ONLINE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With a fresh football team this year, DHS plans for success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/update.midlandps.org\/index.php\/2011\/09\/new-players-same-goal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UPDATE ONLINE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DHSUpdate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-02T12:16:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T13:16:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Update\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DowHighUpdate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DowHighUpdate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Update\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Update\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be39f258dafaaac3e98f5951fe5e9198\"},\"headline\":\"New players, same goal\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-02T12:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T13:16:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":900,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Dow High Sports\",\"Feature Stories\",\"Sports Spories\",\"Student Activities Dow High\"],\"articleSection\":[\"FEATURE\",\"SPORTS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/\",\"name\":\"New players, same goal - UPDATE ONLINE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-02T12:16:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T13:16:55+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/09\\\/new-players-same-goal\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/update.midlandps.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"UPDATE ONLINE\",\"description\":\"H.H. 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