Photo courtesy of Scott Hanson The 2023 Lakeview Lakers football team includes, front row (from left to right): Oliver Marquart, Austin Pringle, Kyran Neuman, Kyle Kurowski, Sawyert Bossuyt, Ethan Staab, Joseph Caron, Tucker Fiene, Andrew Bot, Simon Gravley, Shelten Wernimont, Colter Stensrud, Jake Traen. Second row (L to R): Jared Gregoire, Ryder Torke, Kyler Post, Landon Albertson, Tyden Marczak, Quincy Davis, Dakota Cowell, Dylan Caron, Jace Danielson, Colton Schlenner. Third row (L to R): Joshua Potts, Braylon Breyfogle, Terrek Jenniges, Dustin Schlenner, Garrett Schafer, Kaiden Pringle, Jordan Olsen, Jackson Staab, Cody Helmke, Landyn Listul. Fourth row (L to R): Logan Herrick, Jake Robinson, Alexander Timm, Isaac Timm, Karson Nelson, Gavin Manning, Blake Peltier. The Lakeview Lakers are coached by Scott Hanson, Shawn Myers, Raymond Pederson, Thomas Yahnka, Erik Lundberg, David Loe, Dave Nelson and Colton Andrea.

COTTONWOOD — After recording 10 wins and a berth in the Section 3A championship a season ago, the Lakeview Lakers have even bigger expectations for the 2023 season ahead.

Scott Hanson who is going into his fifth year as head coach, spoke about how special last season was.

“Last year was a special season for us,” Hanson said. “Our senior class was our first to go through the whole off-season program of elementary through high school. It was an exciting year. If you look at our two losses and we lost to Minneota and DB. We had two to four plays that we didn’t make and when you get far in the playoffs, little mistakes get magnified. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. We got a taste of the state tournament and we want to get back to the section championship, to get to the state.”

The Lakers graduated 17 seniors last year from the team including starting quarterback Owen Louwagie, who threw for more than 1500 yards, had 24 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Also lost Clayton Kosel and Greg Schafer, both starting running backs. Kosel had 1900 yards last season with 15 rushing touchdowns and speedster Schafer had over 600 years rushing, 400 yards receiving with multiple touchdowns. Lastly, Lakeview lost their wide out Nathan Fenske. Fenske had over 900 yards receiving with scoring 14 touchdowns.

“We’re losing some talented players but we are getting some good players coming up,” Hanson said. “We are going to have 14 seniors this year. We are going to be bigger upfront. We’re going to have four senior lineman. We’re going to have 25 juniors and seniors on this team. Our kids have been in the weight room since Nov.and they’re hungry to get this football season started.”

Some of the key returners will be the offensive line including senior leader Tucker Fiene. Tyden Marczak will step into being the starting quarterback and Ethan Staab will also be a premier running back for the team.

“The strength for us is our size coming into this season,” Hanson said. “We’re going to have good team speed. We will be quick on defense as well. We are going to have some depth at the line position. Our areas of improvement is we need to get more experience playing and we are just going to focus at that one game at a time. We have to be able to read our keys on defense and improve our IQ. What I like about Marczak is he has stepped into the leadership role and embracing it. He is watching film and getting better everyday. Our goal every year is to get better everyday. Our team goal is get back to the section finals to be able to compete to get to the state tournament. Our kids are working for that and every other team is working for that too.”

The Lakers start their football season on Friday as they travel to face St. James High School.