Polson kicks off football season

By JASON BLASCO

Lake County Leader

Polson High School QB Tanner Wilson and his Pirate teammates experienced a turbulent season en route to qualifying for the Class A Northwest playoffs last season.

The Pirates, whose season ended with a first round loss to Columbia Falls, have a specific goal in mind headed into 2016: playoffs.

Wilson, who will enter his third season as the team’s signal-caller, said he felt his team’s playoff experience will make them more focused as they begin the first week of practice.

“Playoffs are a more exciting time and whenever you qualify, it makes you want to go back,” Wilson said. “(This year) our goal is to make the playoffs and be a higher seed. (We are entering this season) with the expectation to make the playoffs.”

Last season, the Pirates lost to Columbia Falls, a team they played back-to-back weeks at the conclusion of the regular season and in the playoffs. The Pirates battled a multitude of injuries to qualify for the playoffs and have a nucleus of returners that raises expectations.

“Playoffs are more exciting time and whenever you make it you want to go back and goal is to make the playoffs and be a higher side and the expectation is to make it to the playoffs. We have a lot of returners and a lot of seniors coming back this year. We should be good to go.”

Headed into his senior season, Wilson said he has also naturally progressed into being a team leader.

“I’ve kind of taken the leadership role and I am excited for another year,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of returners and a lot of seniors coming back this year so we should be good.”

Pirates’ head coach Scott Wilson expressed his quarterback’s optimism about the start of the season.

“I think we have the capability to qualify for the playoffs this season,” Scott Wilson said. “The biggest thing we are going to have to do is be able to take care of the opponents in our conference. The early preseason games will give us an idea of the pretty tough schedule. We have a tough schedule this year and we will have to see where we are at.”

According to Scott Wilson, the Pirates have 15 of their starters set to return.

“We have expectations that we hope to improve on what we did last year,” Scott Wilson said. “We have several returning kids and our No. 1 goal is to stay healthy as we ran into some injury issues that really hurt us down the stretch. The big goal of our seniors is try and go win conference.”

Senior WR/LB Matthew Rensvold said he felt if the Pirates can stay healthy early in the season, they will be in contention.

“We started off pretty rough but at the end of the year we were where we wanted to be,” Rensvold said. “We are all ready this year and we are going to get going. I can tell you that.”