Seven Lakes took a step back last season.

After making the playoffs two straight years, the Spartans weren’t able to keep the streak going in 2022, finishing with a 1-9 record.

Now Seven Lakes is out to start a new streak. The Spartans have been fueled by last year’s struggles and are determined to compete for a playoff spot again.

While the Spartans did struggle last year, they were still competitive in their games. Four of the Spartans losses were by 10 points or less. Hamon hopes that being in those situations will help the returners learn how to be a winning team and they can step up this year.

“It’s lit a fire under these guys,” said Seven Lakes head coach Jimmy Hamon. “These guys are hungry and not satisfied with anything. They feel like we were a lot better team than we showed last year and they want to prove to the whole district that we can bounce back from that and get back to the playoffs, because that’s where we want to be. It’s something that all these guys have learned from and that everyone is using to get ready for the season.”

The team returns 16 total letterman and four starters on each side of the ball. On defense, they will be led by their linebacking crew with Austin Easterling and Amani Hooks both returning after big years, while Satin Haynes is a big body on the defensive line that will make an impact.

Offensively, the Spartans should have a strong running game. Barrett Hudson enters his senior year as with big numbers as a rusher, and comes into the year fully healthy and ready to improve on a season where he ran for 361 yards and five touchdowns. Jake Farris will help the team form a one-two punch in the run game, as he will look to build off a junior campaign where he ran for 469 yards and five touchdowns.

“Both Barrett and Jake are going to be huge for us,” Hamon said. “Our offensive line only brings back one guy, so Jake and Barett will really have to shoulder the load of that and it makes the new guys on the line feel comfortable knowing that maybe they don’t have to open huge holes every play. They both bring really big experience to the offense and they’ve been putting in the work to get even better. They’re a great one-two punch in the backfield and we hope to feature both a lot.”

Collin Mills and Shaan Patel will compete for the starting quarterback duties. Mills got some limited work his junior year where he threw for 93 yards while completing 10-17 of his passes. Hamon has liked what he has seen from the senior. Meanwhile Patel impressed in the spring and has shown some very good things throwing the ball and with his leadership ability.

“Those two both have some great qualities and I think both are tremendous leaders,” Hamon said. “they aren’t shying away from the competition and both have done a great job. They’re both going in there and trying to win the job. It’s been really fun to see both of them go out there every day.”

Seven Lakes will play Memorial and Klein their first two games of the year before taking on Taylor and Tompkins in their first two district games. The Spartans are looking to make an impact early and take some momentum that they can build on.

“Both those programs are so well coached and drilled into and it really helps prepare us for where we need to be in district play,” Hamon said. “Both of those teams make sure if you have a weakness or if you make mistakes, it’s exposed. That’s exactly what you need early in the season because in this district, you have so many one and two score games and you can’t afford any mistakes. So those two non-district opponent really help us answer questions fast and see what we’re doing well and what we need to fix.”