It’s not often that a high school football team can welcome a new head coach and say that isn’t the biggest change they will experience in the upcoming season.
That just may be the case for the Lynnwood Royals. Adam Fermstad was named the school’s new football coach this offseason and led the team in its first practice of the 2012 season on Wednesday. But the biggest change for the Royals might be their move from 3A to 4A.
Something that doesn’t seem to phase the players or Fermstad.
“Honestly, 4A, it doesn’t bother me at all,” Lynnwood senior wide receiver and cornerback Corey Newman said. “Actually 4A to us seems like it is going to be easier because the people in 3A were a little tougher — Meadowdale, Glacier Peak, Oak Harbor — and the squads that we are going to go against are not going to be harder, nor are they going to be easy. But were not scared.”
Vote here for who you think will win the Wesco South 4A this year
For a team that finished 3-7 in 2011, you have to admire Newman’s confidence.
Fermstad said when the players found out they would be moving up in classification, it didn’t really faze them.
“There hasn’t really been much of a reaction at all,” Fermstad said. “It was kind of like, ‘Well we are moving up to 4A, so that’s that, let’s get to it.’ There was no reaction either way. There was no fear and there was no, ‘Oh thank God.’ It was like, ‘It is what it is, let’s do our jobs and get to work.’”
Fermstad said that one of the keys for the Royals to find success at the 4A level this season is to stay true to themselves.
“With the 4A, I think it’s not to get to intimidated by it,” he said. “A lot of guys, they view 4A as just bigger schools, better competition, and sometimes that’s not necessarily the case. The biggest thing that we need to do is stay true to our roots and not let any of the outside stuff kind of come in. In my mind if we are 2A, 3A or 4A, football is football and if we are the best team that we can be we are going to be a team to shine. And that’s what we can hope to do.”
On the field, Newman said the Royals defense should be a staple of the 2012 team.
“Our defense is going to be really key this year,” he said. “We have a lot of guys on here that want to hit, want to get out there, get crazy. Our defense is going to take over this year and our offense is good too. But just look out for our defense.”
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