Des-Lacs Burlington Lakers players going through a drill on their first practice in pads. Sean Williams/MDN

After bouncing back from a losing record in 2020, the Des-Lacs Burlington Lakers posted an 8-3 record and made an appearance in the Class B quarterfinals last season.

Despite the season coming to an end earlier than they hoped, head coach Taylor Teske is looking to take a week-by-week approach in 2022, with the hopes of hitting their peak come playoff time.

“Our main goal is to continue to improve week in and week out and to be playing our best football come the end of the year and to make the playoffs,” Teske tells The Minot Daily News.

As part of the weekly approach to the season, Teske would like to see the team work on developing more confidence in each other and in the team, which is something he feels like could help the team improve from last season.

Confidence, however, is not the only trait he would like to work on developing, he would also like to see the team focus on getting better with every game and practice.

“Continuing to develop the hard work mindset by coming prepared each day to improve. The football season can be a long grind and you need to continue to show up with the right attitude each day,” he said.

While it’s a new year and a new season, there are some returning players within the Lakers football program that are expected to contribute to multiple positions.

Kaiden Vigen, Brenden Hedges, Kashdyn Officer, Eli Hennessey, Rylan Olson, Paxton Ystaas, Logan Rist, Braylon Fisher, and Jacob Schaefer are among those players expected to contribute on multiple levels of the game.

The Lakers will open the season with a familiar foe in Dickinson Trinity, the same team that they met in the postseason where Dickinson Trinity was on the winning end of a 57-13 contest.

In regard to if the Dickinson Trinity game was the game Teske was looking forward to most, he shared that he’s looking forward to more than that.

“We look forward to every game on the schedule. Each week presents a new challenge and new opponent with which you need to focus on solely. No team can be overlooked in our region and class,” Teske said.

Des-Lacs Burlington hosted Dickinson Trinity on Aug. 19, with the team scheduled to have its bye week following the week one match-up. The Lakers will come out of the bye and hit the road to face Velva on Aug. 26.

SCHEDULE

Friday, Aug. 19

Dickinson Trinity 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 2

@ Velva 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 9

Kenmare 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 16

@ Nedrose 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23

South Prairie 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 30

@ Bishop Ryan 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 7

Ray/Powers Lake 4 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 14

@ Stanley 7 p.m.

ROSTER

No. Name Gr. Position

1 Braylon Fisher 11 WR-CB

2 Logan Rist 11 RB-S

4 Carter Miller 12 TE-LB

5 Jaylin Fulin Ross 12 WR-CB

7 Paxton Ystaas 11 QB-S

9 Levon Duchaine 10 RB-LB

10 Eli Hennessy 12 WR-S

11 Colton Thomas Dailey 10 WR-CB

17 Kaiden Smith 11 TE-LB

19 Kashdyn Officer 11 TE-LB

21 Rylan Olson 12 WR-CB

22 Jacob Schaefer 10 RB-LB

24 Ty Hughes 11 RB-LB

28 Sutton Hennessy 9 TE-LB

29 Elijah Miller 10 WR-S

30 Jayden Davis 9 TE-LB

32 Kyler Fisher 9 QB-LB

34 James Trowbridge 10 WR-S

35 Jaeger Keller 9 WR-CB

40 Oliver Schaefer 9 DL-TE

44 Shad Wahus 10 RB-LB

50 Kaiden Vigen 12 OL-DL

51 John Sauer 10 OL-DL

52 Kamron Grotte 9 OL-DL

53 Nickolas Farrell 10 OL-DL

56 Brenden Hedges 12 OL-DL

57 Kole Knecht 11 OL-DL

59 Carter Eide 12 OL-DL

60 Kolten Vigen 9 OL-DL

62 Landon Brown 10 OL-DL

63 Colton Berard 9 OL-DL

64 Cooper Arnold 9 OL-DL

66 Iver Christensen 11 OL-DL

68 Johnathan Smith 9 OL-DL

70 Carter Kaul 9 OL-DL

71 Logan Rynestad 11 OL-DL

72 Kyle Woznicki 12 OL-DL

74 Kenneth Smith 10 OL-DL

75 Shane Wahus 12 OL-DL

78 Zaedyn Bechel 9 OL-DL

79 Colton Nogosek 11 OL-DL

80 Kasey Bertsch 9 RB-CB

81 Gunnar Jost 9 RB-CB