Football begins planning for 2016

For head football coach Chris Burtch and other coaches, work on the 2016 season has already begun after Fridays season ending 42-7 loss to Frisco.

For head football coach Chris Burtch and other coaches, work on the 2016 season has already begun after Friday’s season ending 42-7 loss to Frisco.

Arman Kafai, Staff Reporter

The end of the football season marks a beginning of sorts as the Redhawks seek to replace 36 seniors from a team that finished 2-8.

“The impact is always that there’s leadership gone and experience gone,” head coach Chris Burtch said. “But that’s the one cool thing about high school football. Every year graduation occurs and that’s not the way it works in the NFL. They can just draft new guys. In high school football, it’s time for the next man to step up.”

There are plenty of those waiting in the wings as juniors, sophomores and freshmen will be  vying for varsity spots in the fall.

“The great thing is, it’s every year,” Burtch said. “You get used to it. It actually starts this week. We started calling our juniors seniors, because that’s our senior group of leaders, so we start calling those guys seniors, the sophomores juniors, and the freshman sophomores. It’s time to grow up and take a little bit more leadership.”

The opening Lebanon Trail High School, will redirect some students from Fowler Middle School, giving the coaching staff a little challenge when it comes to looking at incoming freshman.

“I have never been apart of a split,” Burtch said. “This will be my first one, and it’ll be a learning experience. We still have good numbers. We’re losing a lot of Fowler, but we’re gaining some Scoggins, and so I don’t know, we’ll see next fall.”

Burtch is confident in the upcoming group of players, even with the potential retooling of the offensive and defensive lines.

“We got a talented group coming up,” Burtch said. “Our skill kids in the younger classes are really good. We return a lot of those guys. We gotta replace a lot of linemen, on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball so I think that’s the big shoes to fill. But, I feel really good about where we’re headed.”