CENTERVILLE — The last time Centerville hit the gridiron, it won the 6-Man state championship over Froid-Lake.
Now in title defense, the Miners expect to get their opponents' best efforts week in and week out.
"We've been telling them pretty much since the start of summer that teams are going to be coming after us so we've got to put the work in," coach Brian Davison told MTN Sports at Tuesday's practice. "We got to be focused, we got to be ready to go from Week 1."
Davison said, "Coming into this year everybody knows about us."
He's made sure his players have an understanding of that.
"We know it's coming," said senior Luke Kelley. "Last year we were probably under the radar a little bit not making the playoffs the year before. But we know it's coming this year and we're ready for every week. We're not thinking about last year at all."
"We just got to prepare for it," said senior Caden Olson. "We put in a lot of work over the offseason. I would say we're even a better team than last year."
With last year behind them, the Miners have a new — but similar — goal they aim to accomplish.
"One of the things we've talked about is (that) last year's done," Davison said. "This year we've got another goal which is winning the state title, so that's what we're working towards."
Centerville begins its quest to repeat on the road Aug. 30 against Chester-Joplin-Inverness at 7 p.m.
