GRANADA – The Granada Huntley East Chain/Truman Jaguars are poised to be a threat in the nine-man South and West Sub-Districts.
Coming off a 5-4 season, the nine-man squad will have plenty of talent returning for the 2024 season, and with veteran quarterback Jackson Madsen now in the mix, the team has become a dominant force on both defense and offense.
The team has been spending a lot of time in the weight room leading up to the start of the season, and Jaguars coach Alex Rueda said the hard work during the offseason has added to the team’s strength and intensity.
“We have a ton of numbers in the weight room,” he said. “The first practice always starts with a Jaguar Ironman competition. That’s where we look at the bench squat and clean numbers in the weight room. Then we look at agility, 40-yard dash times, tire flips, vertical jump. … Then we rank them, we rank the kids and show them what level they’re at.”
This serves as a form of internal competition between each player on the team. Ranking the team based on their performance in the Ironman competition has also encouraged many players to work harder in the weight room to place in the top five, which has the added benefit of making them more conditioned and focused on competition day.
The efforts paid off defensively as well.
“This year’s defense is probably the fastest defense we’ve ever had,” Rouda said. “They’re fast, they’re physical and their linebackers are tough.”
Teams adopt a mentality that they must score every yard to win. As it is a nine-player team instead of the traditional 11-player team, the playing style changes due to the narrower field and shortened lineups.
“Nothing is given to you, everything is earned. We know that and the kids know that,” Rouda said. “Just because you’ve played three years doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to win four games this season. That’s not true. You have to fight and earn everything.”
The team has one goal in mind – to put themselves in the best position possible for the state championships – and because of this, many of the players are taking it upon themselves to train outside of the usual weight room workouts and practices.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of kids participate in Parisi Speed School’s Live Fit,” Roorda said, “from seventh grade all the way up to high school seniors. And we have just under 30 kids from our team participate every day, Monday through Thursday, starting at 7:30 in the morning. It’s a serious commitment.”
This has given the team a lot more speed, which has made the players more explosive both offensively and defensively. As a primarily man-coverage team, speed is important to prevent opponents from scoring. Combined with an all-around attack that is efficient with both running and passing, the Jaguars are poised to keep opponents on their toes.
“We want to be a really balanced team,” Rouda said. “Some years we’ll run more, some years we’ll pass more. It just ebbs and flows depending on the situation.”
The Jaguars will host Heron Lake Okabena today, Thursday at 7 p.m.
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