The Gull Lake Lions host their home opener in high school six-man football today.
They welcome the Central Butte Bulldogs to Gull Lake at 4:00 pm on Magic 97's Local Sports Live.
The Lions switched back to six-man football after playing nine-man football since 2019.
They lost their opening game last week against a very strong Hanley team.
"Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago we had a few injury problems," said Lions Assistant Coach Neil Boutin. "We had to put some guys in our first game who hadn't had enough reps. This week we've had a really good week of practice and we're looking forward to the home opener."
He is confident they've made some strides after that first game and some practice time together.
"We're really worked on trying to be disciplined and making sure we believe in ourselves," Boutin said. "That we don't try to do too much as an individual. We work as a team, gain confidence through good plays, and forget about the bad ones."
The Lions are hoping for an improved offensive attack.
"We've been working on that, trying to tweak our blocking schemes and some of our offensive plays just to get kids more familiar with it," Boutin said. "For the kids, it was a big chance from nine-man to six because they haven't played it. In that more open field, you don't necessarily have a guy to block. You have to look for a guy to block."
He added they have a very young group on their offensive unit and expected a slower start.
Our broadcast of today's home opener for Gull Lake starts at 3:50 pm on Magic 97.