Summer work preparing Marauders for season

The boys of fall are training hard in the summer.

The Mingus Union High School football team have been in the weight room and on the football field since before school ended a month ago preparing for the upcoming season.

The Marauders finished last season as the No. 6 team in Division IV and No. 2 in Section III after a 28-21 loss to Seton Catholic which eliminated the Marauders in the second round of the Division IV state playoffs, ending their season with an 8-4 overall record.

Now, having lost a handful of strong seniors, the Marauders are looking to fill those shoes and improve every day in anticipation of an even better upcoming season.

The team has been practicing three days a week, starting each day in the weight room and then moving to the field for drills.

“Being in the weight room and following a weight lifting regimen is crucial for us because we are a smaller school,” Mingus Head Football Coach Bob Young said. “We’ve had weight lifting as part of the program for a long time, and our players are committed to it. We think we’re one of the strongest teams around and that’s due to the [weight lifting] program. It really helps with strength and speed.”

They’ve also been competing in 7-on-7 games, around 30 so far.

The 7-on-7 game format, also known as pass skeleton, is basically a football game without linemen and without pads.

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, June 19, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.