The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows football team will be a younger group this season after graduating 12 seniors last season including captains Diego Gonzalez, Uli Frias, Colin Kirstein and Caden Hankins, and starting quarterback Carson Nesheim.
Head Coach Caleb Vogel says the younger group has put in the work to be ready for Week 1.
“The development of the younger kids that I’ve seen, the incoming freshmen, is just huge,” says Vogel. “We’ve got new kids moving into the district, they adapted to the program well. The hard work and the dedication these young men have put in, to do installs, and seven on seven on Sundays. Strength and conditioning is a huge part of our programs. It’s basically our number one thing. If you put the time in the weight room, get bigger, faster, and stronger, it’s going to play a factor out in the football field. We just continue to push that. Kids are adapting really well to that and doing a great job in and out of the weight room.”
Vogel notes returners to watch and their progression.
“We’ve got some young sophomores, Charlie Campbell, JD Morrical, Huxley Lingenfelter. Those guys really started to shine towards the end of the year as freshmen. Continuing on where they left off last year are just going to be great for us. A couple other upperclassmen, we’ve got Selvin Gonzalez who’s really looking good for us, Kolton Hefti, Jackson Engstrom. We have a good group of guys that just continue to get better every day and that’s what we want and they’re competing every day. It’s just great to see their level of football has improved from when they were freshmen. It’s just great to have that around.”
Sophomore Huxley Lingenfelter returns after leading the defense with 46 tackles last season. Sophomore Charlie Campbell returns to help boost the offense after rushing for 249 yards and four touchdowns last season.
Vogel on the core message of Cowboy football.
“We talk about being a family, and that’s huge in our program. These guys have adapted to that. It’s going to be, when you come out and watch them on Friday nights you’re going to see that. They’re just hardworking kids, and it’s going to be a fun year.”
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows will host South Hamilton for a scrimmage on Friday. The Cowboys kickoff the season Friday, August 30th by hosting Eagle Grove.
