PIASA – After an interesting 5-5 season, where the Southwestern Piasa Birds won their first four games and then lost the next four, they earned a playoff game, but were shutout 42-0.
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There are worse things than finishing a season 5-5, but seniors Jacob Fischer and David Watkins believe that they can do better than that. The two are both Altonized Community Federal Credit Union Male Athletes Of The Month For Southwestern.
“We can always do better,” Fisher said. “I’m looking forward to our team working hard, staying together, and just winning. I mean, that’s all we want and we’re going to keep going.”
They’ve been working hard all summer and they can’t wait for their season to kick off this Friday, August 26th against Staunton. They believe that they have what it takes to get off to another great start to the season.
“I think our team is very well rounded and I think we can do it this year. We’re going to go 4-0 again and keep it going,” Fisher said. “We’re going to win that first week over Staunton, that’s what we want.”
When asked how they plan on achieving that great start, Watkins had some great feedback.
“Teamwork, of course, just taking it week by week,” he said. “I think this first week we’ve been more vocal than we ever have in the past. Communication is key, everyone is locking in and getting on the same wavelength.”
Southwestern is known to be a run-first team. They lost their leading rusher in Gavin Day, so it’s likely Fisher will be seeing the ball a lot more this season. Last year he notched 92 yards rushing and 95 receiving with one touchdown. His speed is great on special teams. He led his team with 228 yards off of kick returns last year, averaging almost 17-yards a game.
Defensively, Watkins made 15 tackles and assisted on six more last season. He’s expecting to play a larger role for the team this year.
They are two of 12 seniors on the varsity team, all with one goal in common, to get back to the playoffs.
The journey begins this Friday on the road at Staunton at 7 p.m. The Piasa Birds’ first home game is the following Friday night, September 2nd, against Virden North Mac, their only non-conference game of the regular season.
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