Good summer leads to high hopes for Libby

The 2015 football season will mark the 13th year that Neil Fuller has been in charge of the Libby Loggers football program. After a disappointing season in which his team went 2-7, Fuller said it’s been one of the best summers for the program in a long time.

“We’ve had the best turnout we’ve had in years in terms of our summer activities,” he said. “It’s been a fun summer. The kids have worked hard. It’s been an enjoyable summer.”

The Loggers lost seven seniors to graduation and will return five starters from last year’s squad. This year they will depend on an athletic group of inexperienced players.

“We are inexperienced,” he said. “But, we have athletes. We have decent depth with our perimeter players, but we lack depth on the defensive and offensive line. We are young, but we have very good athletes.”

The Loggers success on offense will be determined by how quickly their young offensive line gels.

“We are very young up front and not very big,” he said. “We could potentially be starting two freshmen, two sophomores and a senior on the offensive line. We are going to be creative in the backfield with getting our guys in space. We are going to have to be good at throwing high percentage short yardage passes. Hopefully we will be able to develop up front each game. Our ground game will hinge on how our kids gel up front. We have youth there, but they are all athletic and quick guys. They will really dictate what we do offensively. Ideally we like to be balanced between our passing and running game.”

Fuller said that the success of his team will be more about continuing to work hard and focusing on becoming better each week and not focusing on the wins and losses.

“With our youth anything can happen,” he said. “We’re going to continue to work hard and focus on becoming a better football team each week. Hopefully our hard work and commitment this summer will translate into success on the football field this fall.”

Fuller said that his team’s schedule will be a challenge, but that his team is looking forward to rising to the challenge.

“We have a tough schedule,” Fuller said. “Every team we play is a playoff team. It’s going to be a big challenge for us, but the kids are excited about it. It’s going to be a matter of how we mature. Hopefully we can keep kids healthy. It’s going to take some time, but we should improve each week.”

The Loggers will start their season on the road in Missoula against Loyola-Sacred Heart, Friday, August 28, at 7 p.m.

“We start our season down in Missoula against Loyola,” he said. They are one of the better programs in the state. They are in the playoffs year in and year out. It will be exciting to see how we stack up against them. The kids have worked hard this summer. We just need to focus on improving each week.”