2019 HS Football Preview: Sartell Sabres [VIDEO]

The Sartell Sabres posted a winless 2018 season, but their record doesn’t tell the whole story. The Sabres, who played a difficult schedule, narrowly lost to both Alexandria and Apollo early in the season in a pair of games they felt they could have won.

Whatever the case, the Sabres enter 2019 on a 19-game losing skid. However, the skid hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm or optimism heading into the season.

“I think we are optimistic about our new offense,” senior Brady Schmidt said. “We like the changes, we like how everything rolling so far and everyone is getting the hang of it, so it’s looking pretty good.”

The Sabres overhauled their coaching staff, which now includes head coach Scott Hentges’ dad, Bruce, among other new faces.

“We pretty much created a whole new offense , that we never used before,” senior Jack Wolfe said. “The first week of practice we learned about that offense, the second week we honed it in.”

“We are picking up the new offense pretty quick,” senior Jack Engel said. “We are executing really fast and doing everything we are supposed to, so it’s shaping up to be a really good season.”

Engel says the offense should be an exciting one, with lots of returners at skill positions outside of quarterback.

“Our lineman are really big this year,” Engel said. “Our running backs are super fast, our receivers are all pretty tall and can reach over defenders, and our quarterbacks didn’t get much time last year but they are picking it up really fast.”

Senior Cody Lantis says that the team is “pretty young,” but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“We have a pretty young team, but I don’t think that’s going to affect us at all,” Lantis said. “I mean, we have a new coaching staff too, so that’s probably a good change for us… I’m pretty excited.”