With high school football starting back up, each of the county’s coaches feel their teams have made positive steps in the offseason. While each team feels they can compete, that only means the competition will be that much tougher.

Here is what is running through the coaches’ minds as gameday approaches:

Team Identity

Ellsworth Coach Rob Heller: “I’d say we are a little young. Last year we had a lot of sophomores get reps, so we got a lot of experience as younger players, so I think that’s going to pay huge dividends for us this year… We’re just looking to get back on track, get back to our identity of being a tough, physical, disciplined football team.”

Elmwood/Plum City Coach Mike Birtzer: “We do have a very strong offensive line and we have some returning depth in the skill positions. It’s the offensive line that we have some pretty big fellas on.”

Prescott Coach Jordan Hansen: “Fast paced offense and aggressive defense.”

River Falls Coach Ryan Scherz: “We’re pretty big and pretty fast right now.”

Spring Valley Coach Ryan Kapping: “It will be to manage the ball offensively running the football, try to control the clock, play good defense, just try to be sound that way.”

Key to a successful season

Heller: “Toughness and discipline, the stuff that Ellsworth used to be. Had a little bit of a blip on the radar last year, lost our identity a little bit. But if we are tough and disciplined, I feel like a lot of [Middle Border Conference] games take care of themselves. It’s a tough conference, it’s a physical conference and I feel like if you can execute your gameplan well and minimize mistakes, you give yourself a great chance to win every Friday.”

Birtzer: “Our health. We don’t have a lot of numbers and not a lot of depth. So health is the biggest key for us.”

Hansen: “If we can match the physicality of the teams we play in our conference.”

Scherz: “Obviously, I think we’ve got to stay healthy at key positions, and have to have some inexperienced players grow up fast.”

Kapping: “One of the things we’ve done a good job of is from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, really improving year after year. So, I think that’s going to be a critical thing for us is to improve week-to-week. For small schools like us, staying healthy is always such an important piece.”

Biggest improvement from last season

Heller: “Camaraderie, the brotherhood is back. Everyone’s on the same page, they’ve got each other’s back.”

Birtzer: “We do have more physicality. I think that’s something that has progressed last year, and I do see it as a stepping stone this year.”

Hansen: “A lot of our guys are a lot stronger and have gained a lot of good weight.”

Scherz: “We’ve got a lot more kids competing for spots.”

Kapping: “Really good participation in the weight room, strength and conditioning program and just an overall positive attitude. I feel like we’re trending back upward in terms of the stuff we’ll be able to handle mentally this year.”

Player(s) to watch

Heller: “[Lineman] Nolan Kummer, he’s going to be a stud for us. He just committed to Mankato State the other day… Braydon Anderson got some significant playing time, returning all-conference running back, big, physical kid. [Running back/defensive back] Levi Nelson has exceptional speed. And then we’ve got some juniors that I think are ready to take that next step like I talked about. Got a lot of valuable quarters last year, did a lot of learning, and I think they are ready to do a little winning this year.”

Birtzer: “Probably Owen Kober because he is going to be the tailback. In the offense that we run now, he is probably the key position there.”

Hansen: “It’s hard to pick just one. [Wide receiver/defensive back] Kobe Russell, he’s got a game day visit to Wisconsin, he’s going to be pretty good. And then [lineman] David Regnier also got an offer by St. Thomas, which is a Division I team, so two kids that are getting pretty highly recruited.”

Scherz: “[Tight end/defensive end] Eli Johnson is committed to Iowa and he’s a senior, and [lineman] Sam Simpson, he’s got an offer from the Badgers. He’s a junior.”

Kapping: “We return three guys that were all-region players last year. So, [skill position player] Cade Stasiek, [lineman] Caleb Bartko and [running back/linebacker] Trevor Forster for sure would be guys. I think [lineman] Connor Erickson and [wide receiver/defensive back] Elijah Haug are two other seniors that are going to play really good football this year for us and sort of lead our group.”