KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the Olathe Northwest Ravens football, it's all about momentum.
"With the year that we had last year, we're just trying to keep building off of that and maybe have a better year this year," said Merak Greinert, senior quarterback for the Ravens.
Last season, the Ravens finished 8-3 — which was Olathe Northwest's best record in school history.
Olathe Northwest won six of their last seven games, taking them as far as they've ever gone, the Kansas 6A state semifinals.
"Yeah, we obviously have like last year in the back of our head and we just want to, you know, we love those guys and those seniors that we had last year, and we want to just play for them and continue the legacy they started," said Laith Ashkar, senior offensive and defensive lineman. "You know, this school in the past hasn't been the best football program, but we just want to keep building and set it up for the future classes."
In his second season as head coach, Lorne Clark is picking up right where he left off, despite having to fill holes at the skilled positions after a bulk of receivers and running backs graduated.
"I'd say the sky is the limit. If we can get 11 guys on offense and defense to play fast and hard, I think we can compete with most programs," Clark said.
Northwest has a tough week one matchup as the Ravens visit the four-time defending state champions of Mill Valley High School.
The Ravens are one of only four teams to have a winning record over the Jaguars, but Clark says that means nothing.
"That's in the past, last time we played them it was 40-0, so that's the stain that's still on my mind," Clark said.
Last season, the Ravens finished strong, but this season, the team needs to start out strong.
"I'm super excited, you know, they got good players over there, but we got good players here too, so we're going to do everything we can to beat them, and we're going to show them that we're not here to mess around," Ashkar said.
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