The young Hockinson Hawk football squad will return with valuable experience gained after last season, which head coach Clint LeCount hopes will lead his team to greater success.
Like most 2A Greater St. Helens League coaches, LeCount believes the league will be anyone’s game as new coaches and teams returning with depth will make the league tough.
“We’re going to be fighting tooth and nail, and we have some really good football in southwest Washington,” LeCount said.
The Hawks have bolstered their receiving core with experience and a player moving from Tennessee, LeCount said.
“We’ve got some young guys,” he said. “Madsen Richardson has really come out of his shell and has become a really, really good athlete. We have a young man by the name of Kyle Alexander that had moved here from Tennessee, and we want to see what he can do. Obviously, Zach Chung is always a big part of that receiving core.”
Ryder Stenerson returns as tight end to increase the number of options the winner of the quarterback duel has to throw to come game time.
“We have a great quarterback competition going on right now, between Aiden Donowitz and Robbie Matheson, two seniors that have both been pushing each other and really competing well for that starting quarterback spot,” LeCount said after the first week of practice.
Along with the receiving core giving the top quarterback options, LeCount believes the protection up front is the team’s biggest strength.
“We’ve got depth, we have athleticism, and we’ve got some size and some strength,” LeCount said of the offensive line unit. “We have a bunch of kids that are really, really eager to get physical out there on the football field.”
As the team approaches the regular season, LeCount noticed the atmosphere for the 2024 campaign has a different feel to it. Practices have had a greater level of competition and camaraderie, he said.
“It feels different this fall … the atmosphere just feels different, and this team is really, really hungry,” LeCount said.
