Riverside Looking to “Compete” in Revamped Class A, District 7

Riverside Looking to “Compete” in Revamped Class A, District 7 -

(8-1-23) – Last year was a learning curve for the Riverside football team. Coach Darrell Frain hopes the lessons learned from that 2-7 season will translate to wins this season.

“The biggest thing is last year we learned how to compete,” Frain told KNOD Sports. “Every day. Every game. How to come and compete and practice and I think our returners learned a lot that way.”

“The ones that are leaders this year are proven already in the first day of camp, that they're going to make the rest of them compete every day and get better also.”

A pair of those leaders offensively are expected to quarterback Grady Jeppesen and running back Jaxon Gordon.

“They stepped up and did a lot for us. We're going to move Grady around a little more this year. We got sophomore Landyn Schoenrock so we’re going to split a little bit at quarterback so we can get Grady sometimes on the outside and that he might have some passes for us and his athletic ability… Jaxson Gordon as a freshman last year, he put up a lot of yards. He played the last half of the season banged up a little bit and had to fight through it and missed a couple of games. But we think both of them will come back and lead our offense.”

Meanwhile Coach Frain likes the core he has returning to his team on defense with players like Jett Rose Landyn Schoenrock, and Wyatt Bell.

“Those three you mentioned, we're going to count on them a lot. You know, we got. We got to create pressure… All three of them bring a lot to our defense.”

Another change that Riverside will need to contend with is four new teams in Class A, District 7. With the majority of those teams coming from Class 1A, it could be a more physical path to a district title.

“The biggest thing is… The new teams that are coming in, almost all of them are moving down… They're bigger type teams physically. That's the biggest thing.”

Riverside will begin their season on the road against West Monona on August 25th. Listen to hear all Coach Frain has to say about his Bulldog team during our KNOD Football Coach’s Interviews August 21st through the 24th.

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