Luther College celebrates 100 years of football by opening a new era on Saturday when the Norse visit Presentation College in South Dakota. It will be the debut of new coach Aaron Hafner, who takes over a program that failed to win a game in 2012.
Hafner has been stressing physical play leading up to the opener. “I feel like our team is going to play hard, I feel like they are going to give a great effort. We have some kids who are battling through a few bumps and bruises and I like to see them go out there and play. That shows a lot of toughness,” according to Hafner.
It is the first time these schools have met and Hafner has no idea how Presentation will defend Luther’s new triple option offense. He says they have a decent idea of what they are going to do on defense, but he says a lot of people take different approaches to the option and they will have to adjust on the fly.
Hafner says it will be a tough opener for his team as Presentation has some good athletes and the coaching staff has done a great job of getting the team to improve each of its three years.
(Reporting by Darren Svenson, KDEC, Decorah)