GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Ottawa Hills football team is feeling better than ever heading into the upcoming 2022 season.
The Bengals are looking better than ever as well.
"I think we are ready for that bigger step," Ottawa Hills senior quarterback Kamani Jones Jr. said. "Going to the playoffs is not just a bigger thing for us but for the city to let us know that Ottawa Hills is coming as a culture."
Normally during the first few days of practice, only four to five kids show up. Players sometimes have issues with transportation or getting all of the correct paper work filled out in time.
This year, the whole team was there on Day 1.
The team has a new shifted focus, and the Bengals believe that with that mindset, Ottawa Hills can clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
"That will bring in a lot of supporters, you know," Ottawa Hills senior running back Keymarion Gibson said. "A lot of people coming in to watch us more because everyone underrated us. They think we can't go nowhere. I think we got it this year."
Seventh-year head coach Christian Verley played for Ottawa Hills back when he was in high school, and he knows how much a playoff appearance would mean for his hometown community.
"It would be a big thing," Verley said. "I remember in 2006 when we made it how the city wrapped around us. Then in 2009, when a couple of guys I knew made it. It just wraps the city around. It gives us peace. It gives us humility. It brings the courage. It just brings us all together."
The Bengals last winning season was back in 2013.
Ottawa Hills opens up the season on August 26 against their rivals at Union.
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