Panthers excited about upcoming season

With football season beginning at the end of this month, local teams have begun their two-a-day practices to prepare for the upcoming competition.

The Panthers are bringing back a large number of returning starters as well as seeing one of their biggest freshmen classes. New Lexington head coach Dave Rupe explained, “We have 12 seniors and a large junior class this year. We are excited about the large amount of upperclassman. It brings a lot of experience. This is also one of our bigger freshmen classes.”

With their larger group this year, the coaches are trying players in different positions, “We are rotating guys in many positions trying to get them reps. We are trying to secure ourselves with a lot of depth by moving guys around so that is our focus.”

Rupe was pleased with the effort his players put in during the off-season, “Our kids bought into the weight room. We have a lot of kids who are 2-3 sport athletes and we understand that. We want them to go and compete but if they are not in season then we are on them that they need to be in the weight room and they need to be conditioning. With the new weight room, it has really worked out having everything down here at this facility. It has been great and it has been a good off-season.”

New Lexington finished last season 3-7 overall and 3-5 in the MVL.

“I think our guys are ready to get after it,” Rupe said, “One thing with the stadium renovation going on, we have been talking a lot about 'protect the rock' and 'we will not be moved. Those are two of our slogans this year. The kids have stepped up and bought in to it. They have been here everyday of the summer. We have had really good attendance. They bought in to the idea of hard work so we are pretty excited about that. Right now we just have to put the puzzle pieces together and get ready for Fairfield union. That is our only focus.”

The Panthers start off their season against Fairfield Union in Lancaster Aug. 26.

“A lot of exciting things are happening,” Rupe commented, “We are pushing them and we are hard on them because we truly care about them.”

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