As the first couple of weeks of school come to an end, football season is just around the corner. The Golden Bears football has the strong ability to bring the Turner community together, filling everyone with a mix of excitement and nerves. The community eagerly waits to see how the new team will perform and how many victories we will get this year.
Despite the outcome of last season, the boys often put up a good fight at times. This potential leaves the team and the fans to wonder how the season will go this year. Thankfully the varsity boys and head coach have some new strategies that will take the team to the next level, raise the community’s excitement, and give Bear Fans something to root for this year!
Erickson George, a senior varsity starter, running back, and defensive back is excited about this season. He has a positive outlook on how this season is going to go. His thoughts about last season and his predictions for this season give something to look forward to,
“I think last year was a building year for the program. At first, we started off slow, but as the year went on, we became a family and got a feel of how each other played. I think this season will go better than last year and so far, our practices have had a lot of teaching moments. When we make mistakes, we learn from each other, and we build off of that. We have the potential to win games in the regular season, and we are going to be competitive in every game. The team will score more touchdowns and gain more yards. I do believe the defense will come together get more stops and get more first downs on offense.”
George’s confidence in the season is shared with fellow teammate Christian Vaquera.
“Last season was rough, but there has been a major jump in improvement, coaching, and communication with the players and coaches. We are going to have a better season than last year, win more games, and be more positive. I see Erickson George or Josue Castillo leading in rushing yards, ” said Christian.
In addition to the senior varsity boys, first-year Head Coach Shelby Stefan shared his thoughts on predictions for this season.
Coach Steffen said, “Last season was difficult, we had some great kids but, we were low on numbers. It was difficult to get a lot of different looks and different reps in. We were very proud of our seniors. Coach Byers really set us up for a good foundation to move on to the future. We built a lot this summer. We had some good numbers. We averaged almost 50 kids a day during summer activities, and looking at the couple of scrimmages we went to, we competed well. We have a big group of seniors we are looking forward to carrying us. We are looking forward to our homecoming match-up. We have a non-conference game against KIPP Academy. They will be a very solid team, and we look forward to playing them.
When we asked Coach Stephan about conference play, he said,
“We are also looking to go up against a tough conference. De Soto is a year and year out good team, Piper has a lot of good kids out, and Shawnee Heights is looking like they are going to be good again they have a lot of team speed. Overall, it’s going to be a difficult conference, but we are looking to compete.”
While the number of wins for this year’s team is hard to predict, there is a new excitement for this season. With all this buzz, Turner Pride will be definitely high as the season begins.
Don’t miss the Turner Bears’ first game on September 6, 2024, at Lansing High School. Go support the boys and help them kick off their season with success!
