By Mackenzie Madison
<[email protected]>

Although the football season lasts only a few months, preparation for the season never stops.

“It’s a year-round sport,” said Tyler Marotti, varsity football player and junior. “Training basically starts the day after the State final game and goes all the way to the beginning of the next season.”

For the most part, conditioning consists of mainly lifting weights. “We lift all year. We never quit training. We have different phases of training; you have in season, out of season and we have preseason in June and July,” Head Coach Mo Moriarity said. “But what we do is we take those three seasons and create a program to develop your players the best we can to play at the highest level.”

Scott Stilson, varsity football player and junior, said he agrees with Moriarity. “Our conditioning program is better than most schools,” Stilson said. “Our coaches do a great job of getting us in shape and teaching us how to lift correctly.”

However, preparation and conditioning isn’t strictly an extracurricular activity. “APC (Advanced Physical Conditioning) is also all year round so you never stop lifting or conditioning.” Stilson said. “During the season, it’s not as bad. They still work you, but you they make sure you don’t over work your muscles.”

Other than the traditional two-a-days, the team does something a little unorthodox. “During the summer, we do something called the ‘strong man competition,’” Marotti said. “It basically gets us out of the weight room and used to the heat. We do things like swing sledge hammers, toss giant medicine balls, push cars, flip tires and sprint with ropes tied around our waist. Sometimes it’s a little crazy, but it’s all in good fun and worth it come game time.”

Assistant Coach Gabe Johnson created the program. It takes place on three Wednesday mornings in July.

“I think that when it comes to developing our athletes, we do a very good job.” Moriarity said. “It takes all the coaches, but I think the real key is our players. They really buy into our program and they just work extremely hard to develop their bodies. They just, overall as a group, work really hard.”

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UPCOMING GAMES

• Aug. 14: Scrimmage v. Lawrence Central
• Aug. 21: v. Cathedral
• Aug. 28: v. Lebanon
• Sept. 4: v. Center Grove
• Sept. 11: v. Terre Haute South
• Sept. 18: v. Lawrence North
• Sept. 25: v. North Central
• Oct. 2: v. Warren Central (Homecoming)
• Oct. 9: v. Terre Haute North
• Oct. 16: v. Ben Davis