St. Norbert would like to put the 2017 season behind them for good after the way things ended in November.
"Well first of all it was a great football game," head coach Dan McCarty remembers. "3-3 going into overtime, we kicked a field goal, they scored [a touchdown] and just like that our season was over."
The Knights lost 9-6 in the Midwest Conference Championship game to Monmouth College.
"Yeah, it didn't sit well with us," McCarty said.
McCarty is entering his fourth season as head coach of the Green Knights. His 37 seniors in 2018 represent McCarty's first recruitment class, and they're eager to put that bitter memory from last year behind them.
"We're going to use it as motivation," senior linebacker and former Preble Hornet Ben Kornowski said. "We're not thinking about last year though. We're going every game, one at a time and we're going to see where that takes us."
The Knights are also learning a new offense under first year offensive coordinator Dennis Cooper. He spent the previous season as the offensive line coach and special teams coordinator at Dakota State University, a NAIA school in Madison, SD.
While the system might be new, the leadership culture is still the same, coach McCarty said.
"The bed rock is our 37 seniors. They were freshman the last time we won the conference championship so they know what it takes and excited for the leadership that they are going to provide."
"Coach McCarty has been great," senior offensive lineman Kyle Radermaker added. "We're all big fans of him. 37 seniors sticking around means we're liking something."
