The Griswold Tigers Football team gets an early start as they are set to host the East Mills Wolverines on Friday Night to kick off the Football season. The Tigers will look to improve upon a 3-6 record from a year ago and will do so with a bit of a new look after graduating 11 seniors. However, with fall camp in the review mirror, head coach Seth Lembke believes the week 0 contest will help the team continue to grow.

The early start, combined with the newcomers, necessitated a slightly different feel in camp, but sometimes less is more.

One of the new faces in new places in the Griswold lineup is senior quarterback Wyatt Silk. Although not new to varsity football, it will be his first year at quarterback after playing behind four-year starter Bode Wyman.  Lembke says his progression through camp has been strong and that he has benefited from his time on the field in other areas as well as from playing behind Wyman.

Arguably, the area most affected by graduation is the receiving corps. The Tigers lost their top six receivers from a year ago, including Connor Bowers and Auden Wilson, who each notched over 500 yards. Although it might take some time to completely develop the pass game, there have been some standouts in camp.

On defense the Tigers will look to senior RJ Dishong to be a leader. Dishong finished sixth on the team in total tackles a year ago with 31.5 adding 5 tackles for loss.

Early season games always come in with a bit of unknowns, but this game could see that exemplified with both squads looking to fill in certain spots. However, similar to the opposition, Lembke expects East Mills to be prepared.

This game could come down to the ability to limit mistakes, and for Lembke the keys to a victory are the basics.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm in Griswold and join KJAN for pregame coverage at 6:30 pm.