Moline football preps for upcoming season

At Moline, the football team doesn’t rebuild. Instead, the team reloads.

“We’re always focusing on the next team we are going to play, and we make them emphasis,” said Mike Morrissey, Moline football’s head coach.

The Maroons went 9-2 a year ago, and 7-0 in the Western Big Six, but they are not satisfied.

“It’s looking good. We’re excited, we put in a lot of work over the offseason, so we are excited to see what it brings coming up,” said Garrett Schram, a Moline senior. “We trust each other a lot more than we did in the summer. We worked on that, we hung outside of this to make sure we trust each other. We’re able to understand what job gets done so we can be a good team.”

Coach Morrissey is impressed with his team’s overall speed.

“Even up front, I think our linemen are pretty athletic and can get off the ball fast and move well. We might not have the size we had a year ago, but at the skill position and the guys up front, I think they move as well as anybody we’ve had so we’ll rely on that quite a bit. We’ll play on the perimeter a little more than we have in the past, and taking advantage of letting those guys get the ball out in space,” Morrissey said.

Moline averaged more than 30 points a game last year, and this season returns six offensive starters, including quarterback Kasen Ponder.

“(Kasen is in) year two in the system, just with terminology and being able to command a huddle, and understanding what we are trying to accomplish schematically. Kasen is a really smart kid,” Morrissey said. “He’s got a really high football IQ. He loves football. Ya know, that’s an important piece for the quarterback position.”

The Maroons have a clear goal of defending their Western Big Six crown.

“Every year is a conference championship in the making. We’re hunting for that every year. Being hunted, it’s just every year we have a target on our backs, and ready to go fight through it,” Ponder said. “If you want to try and take it from us, come try and we’re not going to let you.”

“Ya know, teams that look ahead typically have a bump in the road somewhere along the line,” Morrissey said. “We don’t talk about winning, we talk about giving that total effort mindset, and making sure that’s what we focus on more than anything else.”

Moline begins its year at home on Aug. 21 against Rochester.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WHBF - OurQuadCities.com.