LCC football teams complete regular season with unblemished records
LAUREL — All three Laurel-Concord-Coleridge football teams went through the regular season unbeaten this fall.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you must know the LCC varsity team completed the regular season with a perfect 8-0 mark.
The Bears extended the streak to 9-0 by defeating Mead in the playoffs, but fell short against Weeping Water the next week to end the season.
“We like our team, but this is the playoffs,” LCC head coach Alan Gottula said prior to opening the playoffs. “It’s a one-game season now; you win or go home, and if a team is in the playoffs, they’re capable of beating you on any given day.”
As was proven by Weeping Water. What you may or may not know, the younger Bears and the junior high Bulldogs were also unbeaten.
“We have great coaches all the way through our program,” Gottula said. “They are some quality coaches that really know what they are doing and teach the kids the right way to do it.”
The junior varsity ran through its season with a 6-0 record.
The junior Bears defeated Guardian Angels Central Catholic, Stanton, Wisner-Pilger, Clarkson/Leigh, Wakefield and Pender.
While many Class D1 programs struggle to field a junior varsity team due to numbers and other factors, the Bears seemingly flourish in their early-in-theweek games.
Helping with the junior varsity were coaches Pat Harrington, Nate Sims and Zeke Stephens.
The junior high Bulldogs also went 6-0 on the season and were coached by Shannon Benson, Eric DePew and Izac Reifenrath.
“Those coaches do a great job,” Gottula said. “I don’t think it’s important for them to run exactly what we run on Friday, but the kids need to learn to get in a proper stance, tackle well and block well — those coaches do a great job with that; their kids are always ready for the next level when they get done with them.”
The Bulldogs had wins over Homer, Stanton, Wisner-Pilger, Randolph/Osmond, Wakefield and Tri County Northeast. Three of the wins were by shutout.
