On the door of the varsity football locker room, hangs a highlighted phrase from a recent STLToday forum reading “Mehlville, Marquette, and Summit will be terrible.”
Tight end Charlie Kreh, senior, explained that the team uses this as inspiration to beat the odds.

“It makes us work a lot harder,” he said.  “Makes us want to play a lot harder.”
After months of intense workouts, 7 on 7 scrimmages, team camps, and practices, the Mustangs will start their season off with a series of games tonight at 6:30 in the Fort Zumwalt North jamboree.

Kreh said that the squad’s goal tonight is to get their timing down and start playing hard as a team.

This year’s team will be led by starting quarterback Jason Powers, junior, and head coach Matt Klein’s “pro-style” offense.

Lineman Cayden Sparks, senior, spoke highly of Powers, saying that his strong suits are his arm strength and ability to read different defenses.

“I really think that our passing game is going to be fantastic,” Sparks said. “The real thing that Jason brings to the table is that Jason has an outstanding ability to look at the field, read the defense, and execute the play, so I really think Jason’s ability to do that and have a field awareness will be greatly beneficial this year.”

He added that Powers’ play on the field is complimented by his leadership qualities and likeable personality.

“Jason’s just got that leadership personality,” he said. “Number one: he executes on the field and that’s essential and number two: he’s just got that personality that everybody likes. He’s the guy that’s always going to pick you up when you’re struggling and he’s always willing to talk to you, so he’s really got everything that a good leader should have.”

Sparks added that he expects a turnaround season for his Marquette squad, a group that, led by quarterback Austin Powers, Jason’s older brother, went 2-8 last season.

“We have a lot of talent coming back, we have Coach Klein, who’s brought a lot of intensity to the program, and overall we have a big sense of passion,” he said. “So we’re going to come out and we’re going to have a winning record this year and that’s just a fact and my expectation.”

Both Sparks and Kreh agreed that Jason’s transition into the starting quarterback role will be a smooth one due to his experience on JV and as a backup on varsity.

“We’re all excited,” Sparks said. “This is a big moment for Marquette football and we’re really excited to see what it brings to us. We expect to have a winning record and we expect to have a good season.”