In Bremen, there's high optimism for 2022.

The Lions return 13 starters from last year's 7-4 team, including 1000-yard rusher Lance Moser.

But being the smallest school in the NIC, the Lions also know winning on Friday, means executing on an extremely high level.

"We can't be a team that makes mistakes and win," Head Coach Jordan Leeper said. "We're a smaller school so we have to have consistent effort every single day. I think we have a proud tradition of football. Knowing that, competing each and every day is the biggest thing. We don't necessarily talk about the end of the season yet. We're talking about going out each and every day and competing."

The Lions will have a familiar foe in week one when they take on LaVille.

The Lancers beat Bremen twice last year, including in sectionals.

Both games were decided by one score.

"I want to go out and be as physical as I can be," Senior Lineman Easton Reed said. "I want to grow this next generation of Bremen Lion football players and teach them what it means to be a part of that long, green line. We're a physical team and we won't stop. No matter what the score is, we're not going to stop. If we're up by 50, down by 50. We're going to keep coming at you no matter the circumstance."