We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
The Harlem Wildcat football team began practice on August 11th in preparation for the upcoming season.
Head coach Kelly Mills has been hard at work bringing this young group up to speed and getting them ready to compete in the revamped Northern B.
The Wildcats graduated much of their production from a season ago and will have to rely on a young and inexperienced group.
Mills and his staff have been getting the players up to speed quickly and hope to be competitive this season.
This years team includes seniors Tevin Messerly, Adrian Kulbeck, Gavin Horn, Damian Schuhmacher, Curtis Humphreys and Daniel Rasmussen.
Juniors out this fall are: Lane Allen, Kurt Calvert, Tyriek Crazy and Hunter Gray.
Sophomores looking to contribute are: Taggert Devaney, Tyree Doney, Sonny Gray, Randall Brockie, Truth Brockie, Clinton Brown, Curtis Healy and Elliot Iwen.
Freshman experiencing Wildcat high school football for the first time are Josh Horn, Andrew Rasmussen, Zach Kinyon, Casius Johnson, Bradley Cole, Brent Cole, Jeremiah Mount, Sterling Snell.
The Wildcats will have to get acclimated to new rolls on the team this fall, "We graduated nine seniors from last year's team and only have five seniors out this year," said Mills."However, the future looks bright as sixteen Freshman and Sophomores are looking to contribute to the team this year."
Mills addressed some of things the team needs to replace, "Most of our offensive production from last year either graduated or decided not to play this year. That puts us in a bind, but we've got some guys that are ready to step up and fill those spots. No one player is bigger than the team or the game."
The high number of underclassmen is a positive thing in building a program and this years group also has something the Wildcats haven't "We've struggled with linemen numbers in the past, we have thirteen out right now; ten are either Freshmen or Sophomores," said Mills.
The team will ask a lot of their athletes, "All of our skill guys will have to be able to play multiple positions on both sides of the ball. Hopefully, we can keep this young group together and build off of what we have going right now. Our young guys know they have to grow up quick for us to have a chance to win this year, but the future looks good," concluded Mills.
Harlem will open the season Friday September 1 at home in a conference tilt against the Wolf Point Wolves. They will remain home the following week as they will host the Glasgow Scotties.
The teams first road trip of the season will be September 15 when they head to Cut Bank to face the Wolves.
Harlem will return home the following week to host Shelby in a Homecoming contest. The team will then head to Poplar September 29.
The Wildcats will honor their seniors in their home finale against the Fairfield Eagles on Friday October 6.
The regular season finale will have the team in Conrad playing the Cowboys.
