A slow but steady drizzle began to fall over O’fallon, MO on July 7 as the Mustangs battled the St. Dominic Crusaders in their second round of 7 on 7 workouts.

The goal of a 7 on 7 is to work on a team’s passing game with the help of a live defense. Both squads, donned in shorts and t-shirts (some confident players sported cut-offs), switched back and forth between offense and defense as each quarterback practiced his reads.

Head coach Matt Klein explained that along with 7 on 7s, the team has been putting in work in the weight room and during team camp.

“We’ve been putting an emphasis on making no excuses and always being at weights, always being at 7 on 7s,” he said. “We’ve got forty kids that, instead of laying by the pool, are out here trying to get better so that’s a huge step in the right direction.”

On June 13 and 14, the team went to East Central team camp in order to practice through live scrimmages of three teams per day. The Mustangs will start their second round of camp tonight from 5:30-8:15.

“We had a lot of great success and at the same time got challenged on some scrimmages, so it was great to see our kids stay together and pick that up when things were going great and then started not to go great because that’s going to happen throughout the season no matter what,” Klein said. “We were very pleased with the camp.”

He added that the team is emphasizing playing with effort and excitement. The Mustangs’ first day of practice will be Monday, August 4 and Klein stated that all players need to be prepared to take it to a whole new level.

“Right now, sophomore through senior, every spot’s open including varsity so basically it’s their job to go out there and earn it,” he said.

The team is in the process of deciding captains for the upcoming season. A player can be considered for the captain spot if they are a member of the Mustangs Champions Club, which Klein says is based on showing up for practices and being an active member of the team. Captains will be selected out of a group of players that will be ready on July 25.

“We expect to go out there and compete no matter who we’re playing and it’s up to our kids to be able to go out there and build that confidence to be able to do that against anyone,” he said.

Lineman Kevin Tippit, senior, said his main goals for this upcoming season are building relationships, getting used to the team’s new offense and coach, and to start winning as a team.

“We’re not going to have shotgun this year,” he said. “We’re going to have more of a pro-style offense under center.”

Despite the squad’s small returning senior class, Tippit says the Mustangs have a lot of talented and fast juniors. He also stated that the team’s strongest position will be at running back with the likes of Demarco Johnson, junior, and seniors Charles Turner, Jacobi Boykin, and Jack Whitworth.

With the addition of new defensive coordinator Scott Cleer, Tippit says the team is working to perfect both their offense and defense.

“I think we’re going to surprise some people,” he said. “I know we’re going to do better than people think because we have some really talented young kids coming up with us.”