Young Arlee Warriors ready for kickoff

Young Arlee Warriors ready for kickoff

By JASON BLASCO

Lake County Leader

ARLEE — Newly-appointed Arlee High School football QB Tyler Tanner understands what it means to be a part of a winning football culture.

Last season, Tanner was an All-State wide receiver on a Warrior team that lost the Class C 8-man football state championship to Chinook 44-20.

This year, Tanner will lead a group of young Warriors players who lost seven of their eight starters from last season’s runner-up team to transfers and graduation as the team’s starting quarterback.

“Last season, everyone was on the same page and ready to play on Friday night,” Tanner said. “Our season was special last year. We were all one team and worked hard together.”

Tanner has taken on the added responsibility to ensure he leads his young Warriors team in the right direction as they prepare to kick off the season against Plains High School this Friday at 7 p.m. at Plains.

“This year, being a quarterback is so different because I have to tell guys what to do, be a leader on a team, and a leader in that position,” Tanner said. “With a lot of young guys coming in, I have to help them learn the wide receiver spot. Being a receiver myself, I am going to know how the receiver likes to receive the ball.”

Tanner said his long-term goal for this season is simple: “get to the playoffs.”

This season, the Warriors will face a tough challenge with the addition of Twin Bridges, a team they defeated in the semifinals, added to their conference. With that addition, Tanner said he felt it will be more difficult to achieve their goal of playoffs.

“We need to get through the conference,” Tanner said. “This year getting through the conference will be tough even though we have a lot of young talent. We have a lot of good talent coming into our conference.”

With a young core of players, Arlee Coach Todd Yochum said he is going to keep his philosophical approach “simple.”

“We are taking each game one game at a time,” Yochum said. “When you have a group of young players, that is what you have to do.”

Yochum has acknowledged with the additions to his conference the Warriors’ schedule is going to be a bit of a “grinder.”

With Twin Bridges in our conference, it makes winning our conference a whole lot tougher,” Yochum said.

Despite the challenges, Yochum said he “embraces” the challenge of a new season.

“It’s all about the kids and every single year you get excited about the kids you had last year and seeing them get older,” Yochum said. “It’s fun watching how much they have grown over the summer when you haven’t seen them. There is new excitement around the kids each year.”

Though Yochum acknowledges with his team’s youth it will be difficult to duplicate his team’s success, he expressed optimism it will be a “good season.”

“We have to get our starting spot solidified and it’s game week, if that tells you anything,” Yochum said. “As of right now, we know where three or four players are going to start.”

Yochum said he felt his one game at a time approach will keep his team in contention.

“I just want to keep things simple because football is not complicated,” Yochum said.