Lakers will field a young team; first game is on the road at Jellico
As Lake City Middle School prepares for its 2023 football season, it has plenty of new faces in the program.
The Lakers have a new head coach and a roster of young players. They’ll begin their campaign with a long road trip to Jellico Thursday, Aug. 17.
That will be the first time many of Lake City’s players will don a middle school uniform for a regular-season game.
The new head coach, Brandon Duncan, is no stranger to the LCMS football program. He served as an assistant for the Lakers from 2014-19.
The team will undoubtedly be one of the youngest middle school squads in the state. as Lake City has only five eighth graders.
“We’re young,” Duncan said. “We have youth and we’re inexperienced and we have 30 or 35 players. We would like to win our division and we’d like to win our district and go to the playoffs.”
While Duncan knows that the Lakers’ youth and inexperience could be a factor, he said that he’s looking to prepare his players for the future.
“I think we have a favorable schedule this year, but my goal is to grow these young men and young women for high school and for life,” Duncan said.
The Lakers enter the season with two female players on the roster. Eighth-grader Kelcie Bean will play on the offensive and defensive lines and sixth-grader Havana Pietroburgo, who is beginning her career, will play wide receiver and defensive back.
Lake City returns eighth-grader Easton Owens (quarterback/safety) and Titus McQuaid (eighth grade, wide receiver/safety).
Other players to watch include Jayden Nolan (seventh grade, running back/outside linebacker); Joseph Scott (seventh grade, wide receiver/middle linebacker) and Collyn Taylor (seventh grade, offensive lineman/defensive lineman).
Kickoff for the Lake City-Jellico game is slated for 7 p.m.