LAKEVILLE - As the LaVille football team hit the field for the start of the 2023 high school season, there was a cool, crisp freshness in the air. It is not just the cooler late-July morning temperature, it's the excitement of the start of a new season in Lakeville. In talking with Lancer senior Michael Good, one could tell that Good is excited to start the season. "Getting on the field, that's for sure," Good said when asked about what he was looking forward to. "We've got work to do in preparing for Bremen. We also need to get better against Prairie Heights." The Lancers will play host to Prairie Heights on August 11 in the pre-season scrimmage. Play is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Lancer Field. With the excitement of the first day, the team and coaches also appreciated good football weather, considering it is late-July, early-August in northern Indiana. "We couldn't ask for a better day," said Good. "We'll enjoy this now because it's gonna get hot! We have to work on our conditioning because we are really out of shape right now." LaVille coach Jeff Kaiser took LHS to Wawasee for a THUD scrimmage against teams they don't normally see during the season - Fort Wayne Wayne, Norwell, and Wawasee. "We learned a lot over there at our THUD scrimmage at Wawasee," Good noted. "We learned some key components and really worked to iron those things out. I think we had a pretty good first day of practice." Kaiser steps in as the 14th football coach at LaVille after spending four seasons as the Lancer defensive coordinator. "He has been around for a while so we are all really comfortable with him," said Good about the new coach. "I think it was a really good decision to have him step into that job. Really, we all know him. He's our guy and we love hard work. He's pushing us really hard and we like that." Following a 10-1 campaign a year ago, including an undefeated regular season and first-ever Hoosier North Athletic Conference title, the Lancers know that was then. "That's our biggest thing," explained Good. "Don't focus on last year. We had a lot of success. It's time that we put all that behind us. We lost a lot of seniors and if you ask anybody they will tell you about all the seniors we lost. So this is our season. Last season is behind us so we are ready to go!" "So far, we are learning from our mistakes. Personally, I don't think we had a great showing at Wawasee (THUD scrimmage). But I think we turned that around today. There were a lot of things the coaches brought up that we addressed today. I think that leadership from the seniors, from the juniors, the sophomore class, it doesn't matter what class, is huge. There wasn't a single, 'hey we did this last year', so we are ahead of that." A little more than 33-percent of the 2022 team graduated - 13 players in all. Time for the next set of Lancers to step up.