Canes football to open season at Lakeland

The Hayward-LCO Hurricanes football team will open their 2024 season with a nonconference game against the Lakeland Thunderbirds in Minocqua this Friday evening.

Coach Noah LeBlanc said the T-Birds “have a lot of similarities” to the Lakeland team of last year. “They want to run the football, pound the rock.” He added that “We’ve flipped the page from our scrimmage at Cameron last Friday” and are focused on Lakeland.

“The scrimmage went awesome,” LeBlanc added. “Our coaches loved everything we saw from our guys” at Cameron and the players came out healthy, he said.

Although the Hurricanes graduated 17 seniors last year, they return 11 seniors this year “who are very good football players” plus 19 juniors, LeBlanc said. “So we’ve filled that void of losing those (17) guys pretty darn well. We’re bringing back guys who have played a lot of football.”

The Hurricanes’ starting backfield will include junior Keegan Walsh at quarterback and senior Brock Chucka at running back. Chucka was picked to the Great Northern All-Conference second team last year.

Last year, Walsh had 33 completions in 63 passing attempts for 495 yards and five touchdowns. The returning receivers include Xzavier Stojek.

LeBlanc noted that the Hurricanes return to their traditional home in the Heart O’ North Conference this season. The conference opener will be against Barron at Rod Lundberg Field on Friday Sept. 6.

“We’re beyond excited” to return to the Heart O’ North, LeBlanc said. “No more 3-hour bus rides. We’re excited to bring back those rivalries that we’ve had in the past. We’ll be ready to go.”

The Hurricanes’ coaching staff this season is augmented by the return of Kyle Narges, who is the defensive coordinator; and with new coach Drew Anderson, who will work with the Canes’ C team.