While it may not have always shown in the record books, there were plenty of positives for the Green River High School football during the 2014 season.
Almost two weeks after their 42-20 win against Worland in their season finale, head coach Don Maggi said the biggest positive he took from the season was that the kids came to practice everyday with a positive attitude and they had a lot of good work ethic.
“Attitude and effort were the things I have been talking about the four years I’ve been here,” Maggi said. “Those are the only things you have control over and I think our kids controlled those really well.”
Despite starting the season with seven straight losses including a heartbreaking 35-28 loss to Rawlins in week two, Maggi said they never put their heads down, they instead came to practice and worked hard.
Looking towards next season, Maggi said a thing that will really help the team next season is that they are returning so many kids. He added a lot of those kids developed varsity experience. Maggi is hoping they can get a few more kids out for football, but they will have nine returners on defense.
With the winter sports season just a few weeks away, Maggi said they are encouraging players to participate in multiple sports and keep competing.
He said they will also do something things during the summer such as a team camp, but right now the focus is other sports and lifting weights.
Maggi said they will turn their attention back to football in he summer and are allowed 14 days to work with the team.
After a smaller senior class with just seven players in 2014, Maggi said the numbers in future classes are solid with 27 freshman, 17 sophomores, and 12 juniors.
Among those returning will be, quarterback Tyler Vendetti who, as a junior, was fourth in the state in all-purpose yards per game. He led the team is both passing and rushing yards.
“He has really developed into a solid leader. I’ve been coaching football for a lot of years, but I’ve never had a kid that was a three-year starter on the varsity level,” Maggi said. “The game was a lot slower for him this year. Next year he is going to be ahead of a lot of the kids on Friday nights.”
Green River will also return their second leading rusher James Bunderman, who had 269 rushing yards as a sophomore. Their third and fourth leading rushers Drew Wilson and Gage Hunt also return, as well as their second and third leading receivers Jacob Olsen and Riley Yeager.
Hunt also led the team in defensive points.
Maggi said the team will also return a lot of skill players to go along with Vendetti and a majority of them touched the ball on the varsity level.
“That is certainly going to help,” he said.
On the line, he said they will returning a lot of kids, some who started or were in the rotation and he is excited about bringing that experience back.
Maggi said they have some talented kids coming back for the 2014 season and a lot of them are good workers.
“If your most talented kids are your hardest workers, you have a really good chance of being successful.”
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