The 2023 football season for GHS is one full of mystery and a bright hopefulness. With a new Head Coach and new style of play, the Woodmen hope to turn heads with a fresh start.

After spending nearly 20 years at the helm of the GHS football program, now Athletic Director Mike Campbell stepped down to fulfill his role as A.D.. With his departure, the school and athletic department worked together to bring in who they feel is the best candidate for the future.

“I think they made the perfect choice to follow (Coach) Campbell,” senior Brock Riddle, quarterback, said. “Campbell has been here forever so it’s hard to have a change of culture and bring in a new guy after 20 years or so of the same guy being in charge. But Coach Boser is the perfect fit and the perfect guy to take over. He believes in the same things as us and understands that it’s going to be an uphill battle and won’t happen overnight.”

The main storyline for Woodmen football over the years has been the aggressive, down your throat, on the ground play style that is synonymous with Coach Campbell. But as the Coach changed, so did the play style. Fans and students can expect more of an air raid style of offense.

“It’s a lot different than what most people are used to seeing us run,” Riddle said. “We are throwing the ball a lot more which is fun for me. We run more out of spread and run off of that so the guys are really excited for a new system.”

The Seymour Owls lost to GHS last season to start off their schedule. After that game, the Owls only dropped two other regular season games and their Sectional matchup against Bloomington North. The offensive attack of Seymour is full of returnees including seniors Bret Perry, QB, and wideout Jack Pennington.

“They have a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball,” junior Ethan Reed, defensive back, said. “Their QB is talented and has a solid arm and can run, they have a tall, athletic wideout who will be tough to contain as well. Having a dual threat QB is definitely tough to contain as DB’s and for our (defensive) line.”

Just as almost every other team at GHS, the weight room has been a huge and beneficial area of work this offseason. The football team spent every morning this summer in the weight room to get stronger and more athletic.

“Our biggest focus this offseason was the weight room, no questions asked,” senior Kobe Kiethley, offensive tackle said. “Being in there just about every day this summer and so far this fall has been huge for us. Getting in there with Coach Watson getting stronger, more athletic and even working on our mobility has helped us more than anything.”

The unsung heroes of football are the big men up front on the offensive and defensive lines. The tone of the game is set by their physicality and hardnose playing style.

“The most important thing for us against Seymour is being physical up front,” Kiethley said. “Making sure we pick up stunts and getting downhill all night will lead to us being successful as a unit. We definitely need to set the tone from the first whistle and play hard all night.”

Seymour was a team who very rarely turned the ball over last season at around 1 turnover per game. In order to be successful against a larger-sized school, capturing opportunities off of mistakes will be extremely important. 

“Our biggest goal tomorrow is to capitalize on them turning the ball over,” Riddle said. “As an offense we need to be able to score points after our defense gets a big stop or forces a turnover. We also need to limit mistakes on offense and make sure we don’t give them any free opportunities on their side of the ball.”

The talk of Woodmen football since 2017 has been very negative with a rough 2022 season having only 1 victory all year. The loaded Senior class looks to flip that switch and make Woodmen fans excited for football again.

“Obviously winning a bunch of games this year will be difficult,” Riddle said. “We know we probably won’t be winning the conference or winning the Sectional but we do know we want to turn around the program. We all believe in Coach Boser and know he’s taking the program in the right direction. We want to start the season off positive with a win tonight and hopefully get the wheels turning for a new era of Greenwood football.”

The football team will travel to Seymour tonight for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The JV squad will face off with Seymour at home tomorrow at noon.