The Dauphin Clippers won a nail-biter against the Swan Valley Tigers last season 17-16 in overtime of the Doug Steeves Championship Cup. Now they open the season against Swan Valley Friday.
The Dauphin Clippers football team opens their season the same way the last one ended, against the Swan Valley Tigers.
The Clippers head off to Swan Valley Friday to kick off the 2016 campaign Friday.
But high school teams seem to be going through constant change, especially on the football field, and the reigning champs are no exception.
As coach Nathan Thacker puts it, "we never know what we have until a game starts with high school athletes."
What he does know is that his team's defense looks promising this year.
"We've got quite a bit of speed on defense, a lot of experience. We've got a good receiving core as well, but I think defense is what's going to get us through."
When asked about the pressures on the athletes of a repeat performance Thacker linked it back to the constant change that all high school sports face.
"There's only two teams in the league that have won the championship in the last seven years. We've got a lot of kids with a lot of experience but at the same time the kids know that every year is different with high school ball. Kids graduate, kids get injured, kids get jobs, you never know who you're going to face. They face pressure all the time because they're kids."
Clippers player Jason Kish echoed Thacker's sentiments on the defensive side of the ball.
"I feel that our defense is very strong this year, we might have a slow start just going into it but I think once we get into it our team chemistry will really get strong and we'll just have a good time playing."
Kish is one of those players on the Clippers defense, making the transition to middle linebacker this season. Last year he served the Clippers as a utility player, but played primarily on the O-Line.
"I fell pretty comfortable doing it," said Kish of his transition to defense this year. "I really know the game of football and grew up learning it so I'm pretty excited to start something new and help the team out."
Kish is looking forward to the season, and says he feels the pressure to repeat as champs lies mostly within the Clippers team.
"I think within our team there's a lot of pressure to repeat with a championship. But within the league we're just another competition, we're just another team."
The Clippers begin the season in Swan River Friday. Dauphin's first home game is Friday, September 23rd when the Virden Bears visit.
