LAWTON, Mich. — "I still feel like we don't get the respect we deserve. But that really motivates us to come back each season. Work harder and harder and prove what Lawton is," said senior linebacker Caleb Mallory.
Even with a 10-3 record from last year, that's not enough for Lawton football.
"Once you get a piece of it again, you want it again. Obviously we went to state two years ago behind that amazing team. And greatly coaches obviously. Last year, that was no fluke. Going to the regional championship and losing to the (would be) state champion by one. We know what it's going to take to get there and we're going to do whatever it takes," said senior quarterback Aiden O'Brien.
The Blue devils have won 42 games in the last four years. They say that they might not have the name recognition like other division 7 programs, but they can compete against the best of them.
"What makes those teams good is that they have phenomenal work ethic, and they have high expectations for themselves. That they expect to win and they carry themselves that way so they practice that way. So we're not the name that they are but we're beginning to become that program and our kids of a high expectation of them," said Head Coach Wade Waldrup.
Lumen-Christi ended their season in the regional final last year. It was a 7-6 loss that fueled all of their off season workouts and plans for this season with 9 returning starters coming back on both sides of the ball.
"It seemed like we almost got cheated out of it. But so many kids are like 'let's get this done, let's go'. Because so many kids felt so close to the state championship game and not every kid played in that state championship but they know that it's very achievable. It's just that there's definitely more that we could've done in the regular season to prepare for that," said Mason Mayne.
Part of the preparation comes from game experience. They purposely created a really tough schedule starting with Benton Harbor, Traverse City St. Francis and Constantine.
"Those are the type of teams we need to be playing. Nothing against our league, our league is tough but we want to see where we're at next to a St. Francis. It's different when you go through nine games and you don't see those teams, you don't really get the in-game feedback to know what you need to do to improve. By playing those teams early on, it tells us where we're at and what we need to do to get to that level," said Waldrup.
"It prepares us for the playoffs. Normally our schedules haven't been the hardest so with those first three games it'll prepare our younger guys on our defense and our younger guys on offense," said Mallory.
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