A number of players are back from a defending Class 3A Sectional champion, including one of the area’s most potent quarterback-to-receiver combinations. With that said, the Mount Vernon football team should have some experience back this season and they should be pretty good.

The Wildcats had a fairly decent night in Friday’s scrimmage against visiting Central, but coach Paul Maier is looking for better execution, especially from his reserves and younger players.

"I thought we did OK," Maier said. "It’s a scrimmage and you know how that goes. We just script our plays so we can have fourth and one and run four vertical plays. We wanted to see our defense fly to the ball and we wanted to see our defense go 11 to the ball. We wanted to see some communication. That (communication) is a key for us offensively and defensively. And finally, we wanted to see them execute some plays for us. I’m fairly pleased with us tonight."

The varsity executed well, but the second and third string may have to work on it in practice.

"We just need to be a little sharper in some parts of our game," the coach said.

With so many players back from last year’s Class 3A Sectional champions, the expectations are a lot higher this season, according to the coach.

"It’s almost too early to say," Maier said. "Experience has to be strength for us. We had a team that played 12-13 games last year and went to the Regional, so that extra three-four weeks of practice means a lot. That experience will be a bonus for us, at least at the start."

The youngsters still need to work on their fundamentals, while the defense has to tackle well and both offensive and defensive lines have to work on the basics of blocking and tackling.

"With the way we run our offense, it starts and ends with our quarterback," the coach said. "Eric (Stemple) will be a key person for us, but we‘ve got numerous other backs. (Nate) Dixon, (Matthew) Rhoads (Michael) Clowers, (Tyler) Hart, (Skyler) Davis, (Nick) Forsee, so we’ve got a number of players who can see a lot of playing time and carry the load, if need be."

The receiving corps is also strong. Ryan Ploetz leads the way, followed by Cling McPherson, Broderick Miller, Blake Marshall and J.D. Hoehn.

The Cats have what Maier called a "fantastic" offensive line, which consists of Justin Schroeder, Alex Barnhart, Alex White, Zach Ruggeri and Dustin Reubenacker. Maier praised the line‘s ability to communicate and called it a key to the team’s success this season.

"Our defense plays well as a unit," the coach said. "We’ve got a lot of positives."

Those positives will be tested early against a schedule that includes the usual cast of characters, such as Jasper, Mount Carmel, Vincennes and North Posey.

"The bad thing for us is that Washington and Princeton have vastly improved over the years," Maier said. "We will have to be up for those games as well."

Tell City is another nemesis team for the Wildcats, but Maier is just getting to know the team that the Cats will face in their season opener this week.

With a big contingent back from a defending Sectional champion, Maier has reason to be optimistic, but he’s more cautious for now.

"Expectations can be a double-edged sword," he said. "I want our guys to focus on one thing and that’s to be better tomorrow than they were today. We’ve talked a lot about that and trying to maintain that. Just trying to get better on that one thing each day. We’re stressing that and that’s going to be our goal."

As has been the case so often during Maier’s 11 years as the Wildcats’ head coach, the team will be focusing on itself while preparing for this week’s season opener at Tell City.

"There are a lot of things we can do better to get ready for Tell City," Maier said. "Most weeks we have to focus on us and this is one of them."

The Marksmen run a 5-2 defense under new coach Don Hitz and they show a lot of different looks offensively. Trent Gunn is the team’s top returning player.

"They were a lot like us in their scrimmage against Crawford County," Maier said. "There were moments when they weren’t so good."