The Chinook Sugarbeeters football team is gearing up to play its first game of the 2024 season this week. New Media Broadcasters spoke with head coach Mike Jones and he said what his team has been doing to get ready for the season opener and how far along the players have progressed.
“We got some good numbers this year,” Jones said. “It’s exciting to see a good balance of upperclassmen and (under)classmen out for football and the eagerness of our team to get out there and starting to compete.”
“We’re getting through our interviews talking to our kids and they’re excited for this year,” Jones continued. “It’s nice we’re clicking on all cylinders already, so it feels like we’re just jumping into midseason right now.”
The Sugarbeeters are returning a bunch of young talent that will star in its 2024 football roster. Coach Jones discussed the growing pains of last season and how optimistic he is now that all of the younger players who played critical minutes last season are improving.
“(We have a) great group of upperclassmen that are filling some roles, but last year, we had to put a lot of young kids, a lot of freshmen and sophomores, into some positions to learn and bascially trial by error and trial by fire,” Jones said.
“Right now, those kids have one more year under their belt,” Jones continued. “We’re really gelling as a team and I’m really excited about the athleticism we have in each class.”
Chinook opens its 2024 campaign against the Belt Huskies, the 2022 8-man football team champions and 2023 state runners-up. The game will be at home and kickoff from Hoon Field is scheduled for 7pm this coming Friday, Aug. 30. Noah Friedman will broadcast the game on KRYK-101.3FM and HiLineToday.com.
