Prep Football Training Camps: Dundee anxious to 'put on a show'
DUNDEE – There is a lot of excitement surrounding the Dundee football team this year – and with good reason.
The Vikings will open the season Thursday in their new football stadium, which includes a turf field. Senior Braiden Whitaker said the players watched the progress the last year or so as the stadium was built in anticipation of this moment.
“We’d come out here some days and just look at it and, like, ‘Wow, we can’t wait.'" he said.
The Vikings have been working out on the field all summer and, of course, since practice officially started Aug. 7. Whitaker said the players needed to make some slight adjustments, even to the cleats they wear.
“I think it’s going to be hot,” he said. “There is a difference. But we are looking forward to it. It’s a great field.”
Junior quarterback Ryan Zanger has been working on his footing and learning about those differences.
“I love it,” Zanger said. “I do like grass, but this is really nice. It might be a little different, but, all in all, it is football. I like it. I love the blue end zones.”
There’s more to love about the Dundee football team than the shiny new stadium. The team returns 9 starters on offense and 7 on defense from last year, including Zanger and Whitaker, who are now in their third season of playing together. They’ve developed quite a connection.
“We have gotten better as teammates and friends,” Whitaker said. “We’ve been playing with each other for a long time. It will carry over to this year.”
Zanger threw for 1,571 yards last year and 13 touchdowns. Six of those TD passes went to Whitaker, who caught 46 passes for 732 yards a year ago.
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“My freshman year, his sophomore year, on JV, me and him had a ton of completions together,” Zanger said. “It’s not just Braiden. We have some really good receivers. I think we’ll be just fine in that area, if not better.”
Dundee head coach Steve Ayre said Zanger keeps getting better. The team’s offensive playbook keeps getting bigger.
“He’s gotten much better,” Ayre said. “As a junior, he is getting more and more in his playbook. We know he can handle it. He’s a smart, coachable kid.”
One thing Ayre loves about this Viking team is the experience they have.
“There are lot of guys in that senior class who have played varsity football for three years,” he said. “They are a great group of kids. We’re really starting to take the right direction and get that buy-in from everybody.
“We are getting better and better each day.”
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The Vikings have some work to do after last season. Dundee started the season 5-0 but lost four of its last six games when it reached the gauntlet part of its schedule. The playoff loss came to Flat Rock, the team the Vikings will line up against next week for the season opener.
Ayre said everyone is looking forward to Thursday.
“Between the stadium, the fact that we open with Flat Rock, all of it,” he said. “We think we’ll have a pretty good team. I think it should be something fun this year.”
Whitaker is dialed in for some fun as well.
“We’re going to put on a show,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Prep Football Training Camps: Dundee anxious to 'put on a show'
