The Belmond-Klemme football team enters preseason practices off a 2-7 record last season, which was their first multi win season since 2020 (4-4). Head Coach Josh Faaborg on how players balanced a full offseason slate to continue growth.
“No true offseason for these kids. They’re asked to do a lot. They compete in the seasons that they’re in and the respective sports that they’re in. I think across the board, all of our coaches that were in season did a great job. They not only focused on their season, going out and competing on a nightly basis, but also making sure that our kids were putting in the time to develop as athletes,” says Faaborg. “We had a really solid offseason, participation was way up. The efforts of Tony McLaughlin, who’s back managing our weight room for boys athletics was tremendous. We couldn’t be more pleased with how that went.”
Faaborg on players leading the charge.
“We do have a lot of individuals that are focusing not only on themselves, but also being great teammates and leading the charge for us. That’s a big challenge that we as coaches have put onto them moving forward. We want this to be a player led program and not led by coaches. Kids like Brody Heifner, Braden Dougherty, Jackson Johanns, Griffin Paulsen, Kysen Lamb, all of those guys who had healthy statistics last year, have really come back and did a nice job. Zach Hanson, he’s a senior coming in. He’s become a really vocal guy for us and has done a great job throughout the entire offseason, as well as getting into the season here. He is making sure that our guys up front have great leadership.”
Junior Brody Heifner led the team with 912 passing yards and eight total touchdowns (five passing and three rushing) last season. Senior Braden Dougherty led the receiving core with 582 yards and five touchdowns. Sophomore Maxwell Swisher paced the Broncos defense with 60 total tackles.
They’ll begin the season at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on Friday, August 29.
