What are the qualities for a dangerous football team?
Senior Leadership?
Depth?
Winning Experience?
If that’s the case, then look no further than the Alcester-Hudson Cubs.
Alcester-Hudson brings back a slew of experienced upperclassmen that lead the way last fall; a campaign in which the Cubs produced the team’s best winning percentage since 2015.
But a Round of 16 exit at the hands of Canistota has left those returning hungry for more.
“We learned Canistota and the Corn Belt [Conference] is the level of football and physicality we wanted to get to and we’ve worked hard in the weight room,” said Head Coach Brian Haak.
The Cubs will bring back a talented offensive group lead by quarterback Mateo Kleinhans, who finished last season with 18 combined touchdowns and over 1,300 yards.
And Coach Haak believes the senior captain will only continue to improve in his final season.
“Mateo is just a really good kid. Very smart kid. Last year for him was a big confidence boost and we really started to see him take big strides. Towards the end of the year he was throwing the best of his career and [we] will see him throw the ball more.”
Kleinhans will have some talented Cubs to throw to this season, including a pair of classmates in Honorable Mention All-Stater Dominic Van Egdom and 6’4 wide receiver Will Hallaway, along with junior Ethan Bovill.
“We worked a lot this summer on throwing the ball and we hope Will to get matched up 1-on-1. Dom has good hands. Ethan should take a huge step up and his confidence has really increased.”
To compliment the passing game, the junior duo of Evan Brown (756 yds, 10 TD) & Jose Topete-Lopez (642 yds, 6 TD) look to make some noise out of the backfield.
“Jose is like tackling a bowling ball. Once we get him going it helps. Brown has some shiftness to him and he is that electric back.”
And while the offense looks to continue their success from last season, Coach Haak sees defensive improvement as an important piece to the upcoming season.
“The key is are going to be are we able to make stops defensively. Our defense is going to be better this year. We have a lot of seniors come back to the defense this season.”
The defense will feature seniors at every position, including Von Egdom (34.5 tackles) and Aiden Cole (5.5 sacks) on the defensive line, Aden Moller (32 tackles) and Jensen Christensen (26.5 tackles) at linebacker, and Kleinhans (14 PBU, 2 INT, 2 FR) and Gavin Kroll (2 FF, 3 FR) in the secondary.
Add that up with a group of talented sophomores and juniors, and the Cubs look poised to make some noise defensively.
“This is now going to be our 3rd year under [Defensive Coordinator] Mitchell Johnson and our kids are starting to get it.”
The Cubs now look to open the year with a trip to Centerville, and will bring with them a feeling of excitement about where this season can take them.
“We have good leadership and the kids really want see where we take this. The sky’s the limit for this group.”
You can check out the Cubs complete schedule below.
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