Pickering has seen a lot of turnover in the coaching department of late with three head coaches in the last four seasons.

This year, they will not only have a new head coach, but many new, youthful faces on the roster. Head coach John Daugherty has big plans for the Red Devils, who are looking to end a 21-game losing streak.

“I am trying to do some different things,” Daugherty said. “Discipline and weight room is big with me and I think some of the kids hadn’t been used to the discipline and expectations. The kids I do have are working really hard and they like it. I think that is going to be key for us moving forward.“

Daugherty started a powerlifting program when he arrived in January and is starting to see a change in the football team.

“We put together a boys’ and girls’ team quick and qualified six girls and four boys, the four boys all play football, to the state meet in a month and half,” Daugherty said. “They saw something good can come from the work. My powerlifting team on both sides has doubled over the summer. Obviously, the football team has been impacted because of that.”

The Red Devils have just two returning starters in senior offensive tackle/nose guard Logan Snead and junior fullback/linebacker Augustus James, who played on the offensive line last year.

Daugherty is ditching the pass-heavy offense of last season for the double-wing featuring James, quarterback Braden Ford and wingbacks Xavier Mitchell and Jaden Mazera.

“We are going to go double-wing, which is a proven offense, especially in the small school level,” Daugherty said. “You don’t have to have a ton of plays.

“You just have to be good at the plays you do. Plus, it also allows us to be able to double-team, so there is not as many one-on-one blocks. As we progress, we can add more things to it.”

Daugherty hired seasoned coach Brian Williams to help turn around a defense that allowed 66.2 points in 2022.

“He has a lot of experience and knowledge, and he is going to bring the 4-2-5,” Daugherty said. “So we are hopefully doing better on containing plays and not letting plays get outside of us.

“That seemed to be a problem last year, and hopefully we’ll be better at tackling and getting the other team into a punt situation to where we can get back on offense. They gave up a lot of points on defense here the last couple of years.”