Lafayette varsity football kicks off another season Friday, Aug. 22. After an unfortunate ending to a rather impressive campaign, they will seek to at least mirror, if not out-perform their performance from last year.

Compiling an overall record of 9-3, the Lancers had a solid 2013-2014 season. However, an unusual challenge arose for the players when Head Coach Boyd Manne, suffered a heart attack over the summer. After returning and making a full recovery, Manne and the team chalked up some clutch wins. He recovered quickly, but unfortunately they weren’t able to make it to State after a crushing defeat against their Conference counterparts, the Eureka Wildcats. The final score was 47-20.

Hoping to rebound from their loss that ended last season, the Lancers  will square off against the foe that smashed their aspirations just several months ago.

Strumming up strategies is necessary. In order to be successful this season, varsity veteran, defensive back Alvin Houston said, “Nothing has really changed with our strategy, but on the defensive line we’ve lost a lot of people, but we also have some people coming that have experience. We’ve had to change that up a little.”

Houston added, “Jacob Bolstad and Michael Mueller are big losses. We’re just going to have to work harder. This year we have Chase Behrndt  and Brendan Scales is coming. We also have good backs.”

Defensive depth shouldn’t be an issue, despite losing several key factors on the line.

The Battle kicks off at home at 7:30 p.m.