A new season of Trojan Football begins tonight

The Wakefield Trojan football team will host their kickoff for the 2023-24 season with a game against Plainview when the Pirates come to town this Friday, Aug. 25, and Coach Mike Hassler believes the experience of his returning players will help the team’s success.
“We return a group of young men that received a lot of playing time last year, so experience will definitely be a strong point,” said Coach Hassler. “I also feel like we have some boys that have developed in the last year that are ready to step up their roles and contribute to this team on Friday nights, which will give us really good depth. That will help us hold up to the wear and tear of a football season and hopefully make a strong four quarter football team.”
The front line of the Trojans will be anchored by seniors Juan Martin Jr., Brad Haglund, Jack Schlickbernd, Isiah Villa, Junior Jason Lopez, and Sophomore Ryan Bruns.
Seniors Anthony Valenzueala and Sam Chase, along with Juniors Jesse Lundahl and Joaquin Chavez will look to shore up the Tight End position.
The Trojan backfield will be loaded with a stable of backs for the 2023 season.
Senior Isaac Walsh, Junior Timothy Kaufman, and Sophomores Cael Johnson and Mason Lamprecht will look to handle a bulk of the running back carries headed into the year.
“Junior Adrian Flores and Jacob Borg have both shown they are fully capable of handling the QB position and have both shown good things during Fall Camp,” said Hassler.
Defensively, the Trojan game will start up front with Seniors Juan Martin Jr., Brad Haglund, Jack Schlickbernd, Isiah Villa, Junior Jesse Lundahl and Jason Lopez, and Sophomore Ryan Bruns.
The Trojans will go two deep at the Linebacker spot where Senior Isaac Walsh will help direct Juniors Timothy Kaufman and Adrian Flores, along with Sophomores Ruben Vega, Mason Lamprecht, and Joaquin Chavez.
The back end of the Trojan defense returns a lot of depth where Senior Anthony Valezuela and Sam Chase, as well as Sophomores Cael Johnson and Jacob Borg all logged quality reps throughout the 2022 season.
The 2023-24 D-1 Trojan season will start with Plainview on August 25, then the team will travel to Bancroft-Rosalie on September 1, to Pender on September 8, before hosting Tri-County Northeast for a game on September 8.
On September 22 the team travels to Hartington-Newcastle, on the 29th the Trojans will host Laurel, travel for a game against Homer on October 6, and end the regular season of play against Crofton’s Warriors on October 13.
New to the Wakefield lineup this year will be the addition of the Hudl broadcasts of games – www.fan.hudl.com, and a search for Wakefield will bring up a listing of games to be featured on the Hudl website for free for those that can’t make the game at Gardner Stadium.