The Mona Shores football team took the field Monday afternoon for the official start of high school football practice.
The Sailors are coming off a second consecutive division two state championship, that would have been hard to imagine just nine years ago when Shores had never even made a playoff appearance.
"It definitely takes a village," Mona Shores head coach Matt Koziak said. "There is no way that I could take all the credit for that. That starts with our coaches, our administration, our kids, our parents to buy in. I always tell our kids you are standing on the shoulders of the guys in front of you and the expectation is to win a state championship , but if we don't, what legacy do you leave? Do you leave a legacy of you did everything in your power to do that or do you leave a legacy of I missed this or I missed this and did you put yourself in the best position to be successful?"
The Sailors graduated a talented senior class from last season led by standout quarterback Brady Rose.
This fall, Mark Konecny steps in under center and provides a different skill set.
"I think it will be very similar," Konecny said about this year's offense. "We are still going to be a run first team. Obviously I'm not going to be able to run the ball as well as Brady, but I can do some things differently than he can like put the ball in the air, but we are still going to run the ball, we are still going to run our veer, power option but I think we are going to throw the ball a little bit more this year."
The Sailors return five starters on each of the ball and open the season at Lowell on Thursday August 26th for the Red Arrows annual Pink Arrow game.
