At the onset of the season, Mount St. Joseph head coach Rich Holzer knew his team had potential, but how they’d play was anyone’s guess.
“We had a lot of talented players, it was a matter of how fast we they matured,” said Holzer.
The Gaels are young. They only have eight senior starters. They’ve quickly gelled to become one of the best teams in the region.
“We worked them hard in the offseason, tried to do some team-building activities to create that cohesion between the team,” said Holzer. “I think it’s paying off now. The guys are coming around.”
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“There’s a certain understanding about what we need to do as a team and what our goals are,” said Gaels linebacker Aaron Johnson. “We saw a few losses back in the 7-on-7 season. Lots of things had to be cleaned up. I think this team just has vision and knows where it’s going.”
“We come together. We dominate as a unit. We dominate as a team. We dominate as a family,” said Gaels quarterback Christian Carter.
Joe’s is 5-1. A two-point loss to Good Counsel in the season-opener is their only blemish on the year.
“Starting off with Good Counsel we faced who we thought would be the biggest and baddest and we only got a couple cuts and bruises,” said Johnson. “We’re not really afraid to face anyone.”
The Gaels put their 5-game win streak on the line Friday as they visit 4-2 Loyola Blakefield. The Dons are coming off back-to-back losses.
“Yeah, what about them? We’ll do the same thing we’ve been doing this whole season, treat them as if they were the best team we ever played. Going hard from the very first to the very last play,” said Johnson of this week’s opponent.
