The 2014-2015 State Championship for football has generated a lot of hype for this year’s season. The players are pumped up and so are the fans. Head football coach Tim Racki is optimistic, but cautions that this is a new season and we can’t base this year’s season on last year’s success.

He said this year’s team is a different team and a different family, and it will have to build its own path to success. According to Coach Racki,  the team is working hard and is excited for this year’s season.

Even though last year’s success in the state tournament was a great achievement, Coach Racki doesn’t like to dwell on it.

He said,”We have that tradition, that culture where we learn from the past, we don’t live in the past.”

Coach Racki also said the team has to focus on getting better each week and taking the season game by game instead of looking at the big picture of having the same exact season as last year. Coach Racki is making sure they have the best season possible by tweaking some of how the practices are run.

The team has less players than last year and the IHSA has limited the amount of minutes the team can do live contact. However, he said it hasn’t affected them that much, because with fewer players the team can get more repetitions in.

Coach Racki’s main goal for the team’s season is to make the playoffs. He plans to take the season one game at a time. The team needs six wins out of nine games for a playoff bid, so an important goal is to get those six wins.

Coach Racki has been telling the team that there is no pressure to be as successful as last year. He said getting into college and going to college is pressure. Coach Racki isn’t as concerned with having the same season as last year as he is about the players having fun, working hard, and playing hard. He said,”If we are destined for a state title that’s great, but I want them to have fun.”

Freshman linebacker, Joe Eraci, has been excited for his football career at Naz and now that the varsity won state he is even more excited. He said he’s excited to keep on the 2014-2015 legacy as well as creating his own. Now, because the Naz football team won state last year the team has a target on their back, so Joe said they have to work even harder and keep winning game by game. The state championship last year has benefited the Naz program in many ways and Joe thinks so, because it got Nazareth on the map and known by high schools and more high school football fans. We can root on Joe through his four years at Naz as he tries to create his own legacy.

The Naz players and coaches are proud and acknowledge the great achievements of past players, but they know that this is a new season and they have to work even harder to have the same success. Other teams are out to get them and only the future will tell if the football team’s hard work will pay off.