The 2019 football season has officially started, and every fan is excited. This year is looking like a major season for the Alliance Bulldogs. 

Erik Folchert, a senior and a four year player for the Bulldog football team is a running back/linebacker this year. According to head coach Seebohm, he’s a strong leader and is super vocal on the field. Erik says that this year is his 10th year playing football, so it’s easy to know that the sport is super important to him. When asking him how he feels about this season compared to the seasons in the past, he mentioned “We still do all the things we have done in the past. We work hard at practice and we play hard in the game regardless of the outcome. Coach makes sure every team has the same expectations and requirements.” He believes that the “senior class was ready to step up” after losing the seniors from last year. Their leadership is definitely present in this year’s season. Their goals are to play their hardest, “stay healthy, to compete, and to win as many games as we can.” When talking about their overall performance this year Erik stated that he thinks they “can perform at a top level if we can just put everything together. We have some minor things to fix, but once we do I think we can be a great team.” All the seniors have good experience, and have been playing for a long time which helps out when building a team. He ends with advice as a senior for underclassmen, “cherish the moment,” you don’t get any of this back.” 

When asking Coach Seebohm about how the season has been so far, he believes that “We are a lot farther ahead at this point this year than we were last year.” Underclassman are also stepping up, according to him. He believes they have a great work ethic and they’re picking up things very quickly. “Every season is different because other teams lose players, we lose seniors that we enjoyed working with.” However, he says it’s fun seeing the juniors from last year step up as seniors and be leaders. He later explains that losing starters will always be part of each season, but this year they have had people step up and fill in roles that they didn’t have last year. “Collin Schrawyer is doing a great job. Chase King has come out, he’s done a great job. And again Trevor is a better quarterback than he was last year.” He also continues by saying “The guys who were starting last year are better than I expected.” When asked about senior leadership he says “Trevor and Erik are very outspoken leaders. Colter does a great job leading on the line.” “It’s great to see that development as they understand their role on the team.” As a coach, he believes his goal is to make his kids better players, “Better men and better players at the same time, that’s what sports should be about, making them better people,” Coach stated. 

Every year, the Bulldog football team has been improving and building a bigger and brighter foundation. With all the outstanding leadership and great underclassman potential, we should expect nothing but great work ethic from this year’s football team!