WEBSTER COUNTY, W.Va. – Despite finishing 4-6 last season, there is a lot of optimism growing around Webster County’s football team. The team is returning 20 starters and picked up two wins to end last year’s campaign.

“From (those two wins and) on, everybody’s been full steam ahead with excitement and ready for this year and it showed in the weight room this offseason into the summer and into fall camp here,” Webster County head coach Eddie Williams said.

Williams is entering his second season leading the Highlanders, where his young team had a little bit of a learning curve to adjust to his scheme.

“Last year we came into a new scheme, it was new for everybody. So it affected everybody, it didn’t just affect me as a quarterback, it affected the whole team,” junior QB Isaac Snyder said. “This year we’re clicking on all cylinders. We’re in midseason form and we’re only at the beginning of the season.”

Williams agrees that the team is grasping the playbook and his expectations better this season.

“This year, it’s more about fine tuning and getting the guys ready to go, which mentally they are there,” Williams added. “Now, it’s just getting fundamentals down and building off that.”

With everything else clicking together, this team’s familiarity with one another may be enough to get them over the hump.

“All of us have been playing together for years,” senior RB/DE Zach McCourt said. “All the way from little league to now and everybody knows how each other is and we’re real close.”

The Highlanders hold high hopes of making the playoffs and turning this program around.

“This team has been a losing football team for the last few seasons, so we’re really looking to have a winning season,” senior OL/DE Noah Clutter said. “We really have a lot of boys that really want to win this year.”

Webster County opens its season on Friday, Aug. 25 against Richwood.