St. John football team gearing up for new season

ST. JOHN — Looking to build off the successes of last season is the St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse (SJEL) football team.

The 8-man league Eagles went 5-4 last season, a drastic improvement to their 1-7 overall record in 2021.

“Our players developed a tremendous amount of growth, and along the way we developed a sense of team unity,” said head coach John Hergert.

Hergert is entering his sixth year coaching organized football. He moved to high school in 2021 after coaching at Endicott-St. John Middle School starting in 2018. He describes his football life as a “truly homegrown player”. Hergert played in middle school for St. John, then played four years of football for SJE.

Hergert also said that the team will be returning 10 starters from last season, including both sides of the ball. There also were some defensive starters last year that were first in the offensive rotation that can see them promoted to starters on offense for the season.

“The hardest part of coaching is watching my seniors slowly leave the field at the end of the final game of the season with tears in their eyes,” Hergert said.

Hergert also went on to say that the strengths of this years team is the love and respect between the players and coaches. To be a successful football team, the players have to buy into what the coaches are teaching them, then hold their teammates accountable each practice and game to have the most success.

Hergert said that he expects to see around 30 players on the team this season. The Eagles will have their opening football game against Garfield-Palouse. This is the second time the schools will open their seasons against each other. Last year, SJE won 55-0. Hergert also mentioned that the second time they played last season was a SJE victory in quadruple overtime.

The Eagles will play five home games this season and five away games. The first game of the season starts Thursday, August 31. They also play Thursday, September 7. These are the last two Thursday games for the Eagles, each game will be on Fridays from September 15-November 3.