Outside of girl’s golf, high school athletics regular season games and matches are set to begin Aug. 14. Before then, North Star will preview each of the Lawrence North fall sports teams. Football is our next highlighted team.

After last year’s heartbreaking loss to Cathedral in the sectionals, the weight room became a safe haven for the Lawrence North Football team. The motivation was there, the work yet to be put in. Fast forward to August and the preparation for this season is starting to align itself for fifth year head coach Pat Mallory.

“You don’t hope for the best, you prepare for the best. So you prepare all your guys as if they were the one playing or the one coming off the bench any Friday,” Mallory said. “That’s what we do all offseason and that’s why our offseason is so tough and grueling.”

Grueling is one of many words that can describe the new culture that Mallory brought to LN five years ago when he begin the rebuild of a program that expects greatness.

“The thing about the new guys coming in right now is that they haven’t seen anything different,” Mallory said. “They all know hard work and expect it, and they know that it’s an expectation of mine that you’re working, in the weightroom, doing speed and agility drills and running track.”

All those speed and agility drills seem to be paying off especially when it comes to Mallory’s Wing-T offense that relies heavily on speedy backs.

“We have a stable of running backs, more so than we’ve ever had. Right now we don’t have that person that stands out above all the others like Al McKeller, but I know that person will surface soon because they’re all vying for that starting spot,” Mallory said. “Right now we have seven guys trying to fight for playing time just at the running back position. I do believe we’re faster at the position this year. Last year we were big and fast, now we’re strong and fast at all three running backs.

Both on and off the field, Mallory has looked to one guy more than anyone else to set example and serve as an image for the program.

“The one guy who stands out above all the rest is Chauncey Mays. Chauncey is vocal and expects greatness, he wants to be successful. When you have a kid like that, you know he’s going to vocally get it done and by example get it done,“ Mallory said.

Mays, a senior defensive end, understands the process it takes to beat the big opponents and knows that leadership and communication is a key component of that.

“I’ve just got to bring a leadership to change the courage and mentality on the field,” Mays said. “By getting them to play faster, stronger and harder out there, we’re going to win more games.”

In what should be a bright spot for the Wildcats, Mays knows the defense has an important role in solidifying the outcome of the game.

“We’ll go as far as the number of mistakes allow us, but if we keep the mistakes down, that’s when the games start coming to us,” Mays said.  

As for the season itself, Mallory expects LN to take it as is, letting the play do the talking for itself.

“We don’t get a lot of respect in the media right now, but that’s the way I like it. I don’t want the love. I want to go earn respect, I don’t want it to be given to me,” Mallory said. “This year we won’t get love early, but if we keep our foot on the gas pedal, we’re going to get a lot of love at the end.”