Maine West's 'all in' this season

Maine West now sees what Chris Hare is looking for in his third year as head coach.

And it goes along with the Warriors' "All In" theme for this season.

"I'm molding it into the vision I have," Hare said. "Either you're in and do all you need to be the best football player, and that means character, offseason, everything, to play Maine West football.

"It was the best offseason we've had. More guys broke records in (weight) lifting and it's really starting to take shape."

The Warriors have 47 players on the roster but seven will need to be in top shape as two-way starters. It goes along with what Hare expects.

"To win you have to put the best product on the field and they've earned it," Hare said. "Everything has to be earned and nothing is going to be given to you."

Running back is a perfect example where junior returnee Calvin Williams is fighting for carries with senior Charlie Vana, the fastest player on the team who will also start at nose tackle.

"What's exciting about this year is we feel we have two running backs we can play back there," Hare said. "Charlie has been a surprise for us - and he was given an opportunity and he's taken it. He finishes every run, runs hard and is very hard to tackle."

Senior Ron Gajewski takes over at quarterback as the Warriors have made a big push to cut the turnovers from last year. Senior Jeremy Stepanovich returns at receiver.

Rich Montelbano and Dan Savino are two-way starters on a more athletic line. Junior Mike Cardamone is an all-conference returnee at middle linebacker and outside linebacker Wes Bengsston has made a big jump into a starting role.

Gajewski and receiver Chris Royal will also try to prevent the pass at safety.

"We've really tried to focus our secondary on daring people to throw the ball," Hare said. "We feel we can defend the pass a lot better than we have and be more aggressive."

It has the Warriors hoping to see better days ahead.