25 teams in 25 days: Bay Tigers

“It does not matter if we do it perfect on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday,” head coach Jeremy Turcotte said. “We have got to go and get paid on Friday nights.”

The Bay Tigers finished last season 4-7 but could have very easily seen their regular season record reversed as three losses came in one score games. While each and every year can bring on new challenges, coach Turcotte and his players understand what they need to do to put a higher number in the win column.

“Discipline and details,” Turcotte said. “We had an outstanding year offensively as far as yardage. Pretty sure we set a school record. But we might have set a school record for turnovers. So we just have to be a little more conscious.”

“Just less mistakes,” Xander Ladner said. “We had a lot of turnovers that were dumb. We could have scored a bunch of more touchdowns before halftime and stuff like that. Less turnovers. Less mistakes.”

“It’s all about effort and the small little details,” Demario Wilson said. “We can’t mess up on small things this year. We are going to give max effort and get everything correct.”

That all may be easier said than done. But when looking at the roster the Tigers have – they just might be in luck. Bay is led by 14 seniors who all see the field on any given Friday night. Including four year starting quarterback Xander Ladner and outside linebacker Demario Wilson.

“It’s great,” Ladner said. “It makes things a lot easier when you are on the field and you see stuff. You get to help people out and it makes it easier for all of us.”

“As all seniors we know what to do and we like to guide the underclassmen,” Wilson said. “We have expectations for ourselves and the coaches have expectations for us. If we don’t follow those expectations then, you know, our team is not a team.”

While starting up a season with individual expectations may feel routine for Ladner and Wilson, there are other seniors who are getting their first crack at starting under the Friday night lights. Mason Buza is a senior and will start his first high school football game at left tackle on August 23rd for the Tigers jamboree against Hancock. To him, this season means just a little bit more.

“We are pretty excited to get started,” Buza said. ” I am really excited to get started being my first year actually starting. It has been a lot of hard work during the summer time. Lifting weights, working out, practicing everyday, but I think we’ve got it this year.”

Buza think they have got it, coach Turcotte think that they have what it takes, and the fun part is that there are only two weeks to wait until week 1 of the regular season. The Tigers will welcome Resurrection Catholic to Bay high on Aug. 30th to get their season started.