High school football is officially back, with teams across the state starting their seasons this evening (August 20th).
One of those teams is the Manitowoc Lincoln Shipbuilders, who start their year hosting their conference rivals in De Pere at Ron Rubick Field.
The Ships are coming off a 2-7 season last year, highlighted by their defense and finishing the campaign on a two-game winning streak.
Head Coach Evan Smith spoke on some of the positives from last season
“From a defensive standpoint, we definitely took it a step in the right direction last year. We were very stingy on that side of the ball,” Coach Smith told us. “We had a few games where we didn’t have our best performance, but I thought against some of the top offenses, we played very well.”
He also mentioned how some things that may have hindered them last year will, in turn, make them more prepared for the upcoming season.
“Offensively, it was kind of a slow go,” Smith explained. “We had a lot of very, very young players playing a lot of positions that they’ve never played before. And this year because of that, though, we have a lot of returning guys that understand the level, they understand the speed, and what it takes. They put a lot of work in the offseason.”
One of those returning players is junior linebacker Elias Reed, who led the Ships in tackles last year with 85.
A new wrinkle for the team this year will be Reed featuring on the offensive side, a role he’s new to but looking forward to taking on.
“Now I’m moving a little bit into more of an offensive role playing slot and running back. So really never played receiver before, but trying to get that down there and learn the offensive plays, I kind of got the defense down right now,” Reed stated.
He also spoke to what its been like to learn from a Super Bowl Champion in Coach Smith for his entire high school football career.
“It’s been awesome. Anytime you get to learn from a former NFL player it’s an amazing opportunity,” Reed said with a smile. “But into the third year, practices have been running more smoothly, getting more of the offense down, which has been kind of our problem for the past two years. But now it’s looking a lot smoother.”
Another player looking to keep that stingy Ships defense strong this year is fellow linebacker, senior Jordan Moyer, who is feeling confident entering week one.
Moyer said, “We’ve got high hopes for the year, so hopefully everything we’ve been practicing for all offseason, hopefully it’ll come to pay off.”
He also recognizes that, as most nights are in the FRCC, this matchup with the Redbirds, who finished last season 7-5, will be a dogfight, but it’s a fight he and his teammates are up for
“We’ve got our work cut out for us week one against De Pere. So, hopefully we can make a statement week one and show the rest of the state what we’re going to be about this year,” the senior told us.
While the Ships will be forced to find ways to replace last year’s seniors, which included starting QB Brett Danielson, receivers Marius Beasley and Brenndon Wolf, and center Carter Thennes among many others, Manitowoc Lincoln looks to take a jump this year behind junior quarterback Kieran Hang, who hopes to give the Ships a new look on offense.
Fans will have the chance to see the new-look Ships in action tonight at Ron Rubick Field with kickoff scheduled for 7:00.
Coverage of this week one matchup will begin at 6:45 p.m. on WOMT 100 and WOMTRadio.com.
