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BUCHANAN — After an offseason of preparation and anticipation, the Buchanan football team is ready to kick off the 2024 season tonight against Saugatuck.

“We’re really excited,” said Buchanan coach Mark Frey. “We’ve got a lot of talent back and our guys have been working really hard this offseason. I think they’ve been itching for this game and fixing to get back hitting people, so we should hope for a good night.”

“It feels great,” added quarterback Jake Franklin. “Watching the other Indiana teams play last week just builds up so much energy and excitement coming into this week.”

The Bucks finished the 2023 season with a 7-4 record and a loss to Constantine in the Division 6 District Championship game. Frey returns eight players on each side of the ball that either started or rotated last year.

“We’re really excited about what that looks like,” he said. “Our o-line is going to have some younger guys on it but they’re not new to the game so they should be okay.” 

Franklin, an All-Region performer last season, returns aiming to take his game to the next level.

“I’ve been working on improving reading coverages quicker and making decisions quicker,” he said. “Last year I feel like I made the little mistakes and fixing those little mistakes in the offseason really improved my game and it’s going to make us as a team better.”

“I think that’s great when you have a returning quarterback, just because it’s like having a coach out on the field when they do everything, they know the offense like the back of their hand,” Frey said. “I think he’s ready for this. He’s been hungry, I think he was close to being all-state last year and so he wants to get that. He’s been really driven.”

Franklin will be handing the ball off to Gabe Tompkins and Leland Payne in the backfield. Tyler Baker returns as one of the area’s top wide receivers.

“They’re going to be the workhorses,” Frey said said. “The nice thing is they can even flex out and catch the ball so we’ll be utilizing them quite a bit and then we have pretty good experience at wide receiver in Tyler Baker.”

On defense Frey will be relying on his back seven to step up while the young but promising defensive line develops.

“I like our back seven, they’re all well-trained and back from last year,” he said. “We’ve got some younger d-linemen but we’re going to be able to make up for that with our speed in the back.”

For Franklin and his team, hoisting a district championship trophy is the goal this season and Saugatuck is the first test.

“I want (a district championship),” Franklin said. “Losing last year didn’t feel great at all. For myself, I want to keep improving but the main goal I’m focused on is with my team winning a district championship. There’s nothing better than winning with your team… I feel like if we just do our jobs (Thursday) and not try to do our own thing, stay composed and really just focus on our job and go play-by-play and not focus on the next quarter, I think we’ll do fine.”