FLORENCE — High expectations are the name of the game in Florence as the Falcons football program is no stranger to winning. And this year they enter the Class B playoffs as the No. 1 seed from the Western B.
Florence (7-1, 5-0 Western B) started their torrid run this season on the wrong foot with a loss to another state contender, Three Forks.
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Rather than hang their heads, the Falcons found a way to regroup.
"I think that really brought us together as a brotherhood and wanting to dial it in and make sure we had a chance at going ahead and making deep playoff runs and hopefully for a championship," Florence senior Lee Blair said.
"But it's been good. It's had moments of, you have a practice that's long, you get a little injured and you're kind of hurting. But at the end of the year, it's been a good season."
Since, it's been seven straight wins for the Falcons, who turned the page and rolled through the Western division.
"It's been really fun, and it just starts in practice, giving a good look to each other," Florence senior Jake Schneiter said. "Iron sharpens iron, as we say. And another quote we say is, chop wood, carry water, and it's kind of just doing the small things every day. It leads to bigger things in the end. So that's just our goal is to focus on the small things."
Sporting seven seniors, this latest group is a batch of athletes who saw the Falcons three-peat from 2021-23, with this senior class all freshmen the last time Florence won it all.
"Watching all three of those games, it really inspired me into wanting to go play for the Falcons," senior Christian Englund said. "And I really looked forward to it even when I was littler and I've always watched the high school football games and I always dreamed of wanting to be on this field."
Florence's other seniors include Tash Murray, Makoah Laasch, Joe Kivela and Jonathan Williams.
First up for Florence is a first-round playoff matchup again Columbus on Friday. As the process resets, the Falcons will take it week-by-week as they look to get back to the mountaintop.
"We've had some very talented football teams as far as just sheer athleticism goes. And we've had some really gritty football teams that have won state titles," third-year Florence coach Adam Goodnight said. "And I think that this group is a little bit of a combination of all of it. There's a lot of talent out there and certainly one of the toughest, if not the toughest group that I've had the opportunity to coach here."
