Submitted photo. The 2024 Canby football team consists of (front row, left to right) Chase Anderson, Landon Meyer-Thovson, Hunter Kack, Ty Rangaard, Matthew Zitzman, Quintin McLain, Daven VanEngen, Brennen Giese, Owen Peterson, Wyatt Varpness, (middle row), Rex Hernandez, Brennen Johnson, Parker Balvin, Landen Behrens, Ben Drietz, Levi Fairchild, Cash Antony, Sawyer Verhelst, Issac Guzman, Eli Greenman, Jake Midtaune, Jacob Fairchild, Rainer German,  (back row) Nathan Cole, Titus Vogt, Bryant Hansen, Jordan DePestal, Colton Bauman, Allen Maldonado, Dyllon Christianson, Garon Kruse, Sam Drietz, Clatyon Drietz, Cody Stoll, Wes Verhelst, Jace Sigler, Cayden Anderson, Isaac Bollerud and Eli Thovson.

CANBY — Coming off a run to the Section 5A quarterfinals last season before falling to the eventual state-champion Minneota Vikings, the Canby Lancers have high expectations to continue building off last season’s success with an experienced roster.

Canby finished last season 6-4. Despite graduating nine seniors, the Lancers are still returning an older lineup with ready-to-go varsity experience, holding 14 seniors and nine juniors.

Head coach Nick Kockelman, going into his 15th year coaching the squad, appreciates the talent and work his former seniors brought, but is looking ahead to starting the season on a quick pace to set the tone.

“We are fortunate … Quite a few of [the current seniors] have played over the last two years, a couple of them have been starters for three years,” Kockelman said. “We still have quite a bit of experience — Guys that gave us a lot of depth last year, had people step up and do some starting roles and be on the field a little bit more consistently. So, we’re going to be an older team this year with a lot of experience, even though we did lose a lot of good players last year.”

Junior Cody Stoll will be the starting quarterback, who had a little bit of playing time in the role last season. Canby graduated former quarterback Nick Wagner, who played in all ten games and threw for 868 yards and 57 complete passes on 140 attempts.

In his four appearances at quarterback last year, Stoll completed four of his 11 attempts for 37 yards.

“It’s his first year starting … He has a strong arm, and he’s good in the classroom, so I think he understands the concepts that we’re trying to call and getting the ball into the open guy,” Kockelman said.

There are a handful of key players returning.

Senior Issac Guzman was the third-leading rusher last season, going for 155 yards, behind Wagner’s 687 and also-graduated Dylan Houseman with 1,015. Guzman also tallied 51 tackles and recorded 117 receiving yards.

“Isaac Guzman is kind of our Swiss army knife guy,” Kockelman said. “He’ll be catching some passes, he’ll be running the ball. He’s a very talented athlete.”

Senior Eli Greenman was the second leading receiver, catching 18 passes for 215 yards, averaging about 26 yards per game. He also grabbed 19 tackles.

“He’s a small slot guy, so just being able to kind of work in the middle of the field and make plays with the ball in his hands, get it to him, and build off of the success he had last year,” Kockelman said.

Senior Sawyer Verhelst will be a four-year starter for the Lancers and another main component on the defensive line and had 60 tackles last season.

Senior Sam Drietz led the overall defense with 86 total tackles, 23 solo and 63 assisted.

“Allan Maldonando will be a three-year starter on the defensive line, Bryant Hansen is a good player, Cayden Anderson is a good defensive lineman,” Kockelman said. “Even guys like Eli Thovson, he played a little bit last year. Then Dyllon Christianson is a junior that’ll be playing a lot on the defense line as well.”

In an effort to get back to postseason play, Kockelman said they have to be prepared all season knowing the competition this section can bring.

“We play in one of the toughest sections in the state. We have Minneota, B.O.L.D and even Dawson has consistently put up some really good teams, so we have to be physical,” Kockelman said. “We got to play to our strengths … On defense, we got to be able to shoot through gaps and make plays in the backfield, and on offense, we have to find some space outside tracking yards differently.”

Through summer camp, Kockelman said they have been training on situational concepts on both sides of the ball and limiting turnovers.

Going into the start of the season, Canby will look at going in with a clean slate and taking what is thrown at them.

“You never really know what other teams are going to do or have,” Kockelman said. “So, just to go there and just adjust to whatever we see and just keep playing hard.”