For many schools, including Manitowoc Lincoln, football preseason is right around the corner.
Lincoln’s Head Coach Evan Smith is going into his second year feeling prepared and ready as the start of preseason workouts and practice sessions begin.
With a closer connection with his players this year, everyone on the team is on the right track for the Ships to have a smooth sailing start to their season.
Evan and his players have also been working with another local squad to perfect their passing game.
“We’ve actually been working a lot with Two Rivers,” he revealed. “We would actually play with 7-on-7 once a week, pretty much all summer…over at Rubik. It helps out both teams quite a bit.”
For the players as well as the coaching staff, these 7-on-7 matches have helped the team get a grasp on what works and how to adjust with game-level speed.
The team also participated in a tournament back in June and fared quite well.
“(We) just missed going to the playoffs by a game,” he noted. “Basically, we missed going to the playoffs by like two points.”
Smith told us that the returning players are getting a better grasp on the offense and defense he introduced last year after taking over the head coaching position.
Per the WIAA rules, they only get around 15 practices before the season starts for the Ships to learn these offenses and defenses.
With the rules changing this year, coaches were allowed to talk to their players about the game to help them get a jumpstart on the season.
“We’ve had the summer because of the new rules to actually talk to the kids about football,” Smith said. “So we’re ahead in that sense quite a bit, and I’m sure a lot of other teams are. Everyone’s probably taking advantage of it.”
Smith is optimistic that his squad will end a 14-year playoff drought, and maybe make a serious push towards Madison.
“I’m excited for it,” he tells SeehaferNews.com. “The goal is to get to the playoffs this year and then see where we can go.”
The Manitowoc Lincoln football team will be on the road for their first game of the year as they travel to De Pere on August 21st.
