By Jacob Heid

Sports Editor

ROSHOLT – The Rosholt football team wants to forget about the season it had last year and focus on what lies ahead. 

With new Head Coach Mike O’Donnell in his first season as head man at Rosholt, he is looking forward to working with this group of players and improving every day.

“I think, you know, just to make sure that these guys enjoy the season, have a successful season and meeting our goals that we set at the beginning of the season,” O’Donnell said. “If we meet those goals, I believe and the players believe that it’ll be a successful season.”

One thing that the Hornets struggled with last season was rushing defense. 

Rosholt gave up over 2,300 rushing yards and 43 rushing touchdowns a year ago. The season-average given up was 233 yards per game on the ground. 

That’s an improvement the team wants to make this season. 

“Discipline is the key. We’ve talked a little bit about, you know, knowing your assignments. A lot of missed assignments cause problems,” O’Donnell explained. “By drilling them enough and getting the skill levels to where they need to be, we’ll be more successful at that.”

The Hornets are using team goals to improve all aspects of the game, both offensively and defensively. 

Head coach Michael O’Donnell named some team goals on both sides of the ball. One of those goals focuses on what the Hornets struggled with last season. 

“One of them, a defensive goal, is to hold the opponent to under 100 yards average for the season rushing.

Another defensive goal is to force two or more turnovers on average in 2023. 

Rosholt wants to win the turnover battle on average, limiting its offense to one turnover at most. They also want to limit penalties to three or less a game.

“Those kinds of mistakes, if we can eliminate them, it will change the complexion of the games and hopefully put us in a better position to be successful this year.”

Rosholt puts those goals to the test in a scrimmage first with Clintonville and Bonduel at Clintonville on Friday, Aug. 11, at 4 p.m. 

Week one features a road game at St. Mary Catholic on Friday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m.