CALEDONIA, Mich. -- It is year two in the GLIAC conference for Davenport Football and they are 2-0 for the first time in program history.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, they are already facing a couple of big injuries including quarterback Deondre Ford and linebacker Kye Black.
“We know through experience that this has happened before. But that’s how it is. Next man up and the next man up these guys are ready to go," Coach Sparky McEwen said at practice on Tuesday.
Second string quarterback Haiden Majewski agreed. “You’re gonna have injuries in every football season with every football team so you always gotta be ready to go. You gotta have that mentality throughout the season because it can happen to anyone. I could go down and the third string could be up. That’s what happened last year."
The good news for Davenport, however, is that they have been able to build some more depth in this season and they're starting to grasp what it takes to play at this level.
“They understand that in order to win in the GLIAC, you gotta compete for four quarters and we had some close ball games last year and we felt because of the lack of depth, we weren’t able to sustain our power," McEwen admitted. "Truly are kids are trusting the process. We don’t worry about the scoreboard, we just worry about doing things right daily. The kids are buying in but we still have a long ways to go.”
The Panthers head to Michigan Tech this week to open up GLIAC play.
