There were a lot of new faces on the field for Forreston last season, and the youth and inexperience showed as the Cardinals went 2-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

But by taking their lumps last season, the Cards believe they’ll be in much better position to return to their usual standard this fall.

“We were real young last year, just a lot of inexperience, and then that leads to things like guys being on the field maybe when it’s too soon or too early,” fifth-year head coach Keynon Janicke said. “But we kind of took care of that last year by getting guys on the field so they’d be ready for this year.”

Tight end/defensive lineman Hunter DeWall was the only all-conference player for Forreston last season. But the Cardinals bring back 10 starters on offense (four linemen, two tight ends, three running backs and quarterback) and eight on defense (three linemen, two linebackers and three defensive backs), meaning the inexperience from last year has turned into veteran presence this season.

“Last year, the problem was our team was really young – a lot of sophomores and a couple freshmen on varsity – and this year they’re all maturing,” DeWall said. “If they keep maturing, that will help for this year and next year, and just keep it going.”

Not only do the Cardinals now have a ton of varsity experience, but those players are hungry for success after learning things the hard way last fall.

“A lot of these guys are ready to step up,” Janicke said. “Our season ended, and we’ve been in the weight room since November – and I haven’t had to do a lot of motivating for that. We’ve got upperclassmen that are ready to lead the way.”

Playing for a program with three state titles, two more trips to the semifinals and an additional pair of quarterfinal berths since 2011, these Cardinals are aware of the legacy that’s been passed down to them. After a down year, they’re ready to get back to the team that went 119-32 in the 13 years between 2011 and 2023.

To do that, DeWald said it will take a return to physical play and hard work – as well as learning lessons from last season. The biggest thing: finishing off drives and finishing off tackles.

“We just have to be physical,” he said. “Last year, a lot of people on our team were afraid to hit, and that cost us several games. We had so many games that were within reach where we weren’t physical enough and we couldn’t finish them off and get the win.

“We’ve had a strong system in place for a long time now, and we’ll just keep running that until it doesn’t work. It makes it really easy for us in the offseason, because it’s just the same thing as last year – but working harder to achieve what we want. It’s just adding more to what we worked on last year, and getting better.”

For their part, Janicke and his coaches realize that they can’t just run it back after a two-win season – especially after seeing halftime leads turn into losses three different times last year because of second-half struggles where “we were just flat,” according to Janicke.

But the year of experience, plus the dedication he’s seen from the players throughout the offseason and the adjustments the coaching staff has made since last November, has Janicke thinking about a strong turnaround this fall.

“If we clean ourselves up, if we fix what we need to fix, the wins will come,” Janicke said. “And we have to change a little bit, we can’t just keep doing the same things that we’re doing; we’ve got to be aware that there have to be some changes in some areas, we can’t be ignorant as coaches to that fact. So we’ve tried our best to make some adjustments offensively and defensively, and then just change our mindset to stop letting things happen to us and just be physical football players.”