The Vermont high school football season is only a few weeks away. The Essex Hornets opened up practice on Monday to kick off the 2019 season.

The division I squad finished last year 3-6 overall. The Hornets are hoping to start off this fall strong as they open up the season against St. Johnsbury on August, 31 at 1 p.m.

The Hornets took to the practice field bright and early Monday morning and strapped up their gold hemlets. The team practiced speed and agility drills along with passing. The first step is to get the team in shape before the pads come on.

Essex is looking to claim its seventh championship in school history this season.

Drew Gordon is entering his third season as the head coach for the Hornets. “We’re excited in November, after a losing season. We’re tired of losing. S, we spend a lot of time in the off season trying to figure out what’s the plan. What’s the system that’s gonna work for us. We feel pretty good about the system that we’ve implemented for this year. Now, it’s just a matter of execution. Execution on our part, execution on the players part” said Gordon.

Offensive and defensive lineman Charlie Desseau shared his excitement for the season. “It’s interesting to see how, i’m not sure how it’s gonna turn out yet. But everyone’s hopeful. Everyone is excited and we hope we’re gonna do really well this year” said Desseau.

The defense is confident they can handle top offenses. Senior linebacker Seth Carney shared what he wants most from his team “I would like to be a dominant team on offense. I think that would be really good for us. We just need to be one of those teams that can put up the numbers because I think our defense can keep up with the better teams. So, if we can put up numbers early, we should be good” said Carney.