By DOUG DONNELLY

OTTAWA LAKE — Summer is over!

Not really, but the first sign that fall is coming fast happened as the Whiteford Bobcats put on the helmets and held the first official practice of the fall.

Being a Bobcat right now means having a big target squarely on their backs. The Bobcats enter the season on a 14-game winning streak.

Senior Hunter DeBarr said Whiteford embraces that target.

“We always do every year just because of the way we play,” said DeBarr, a 1,000-yard rusher last year who scored two touchdown in the state finals. “We are a tough, physical team. We give everyone a game, even if we don’t win.

“Especially with us winning (the state championship) last year, everyone wants to take us down. Not a lot of teams want to play us, but they would love to beat us. We love it. I love it. The players love it.”

Teams across Michigan started practice all this week, then have a scrimmage at the end of next week, then the regular season starts the week after that. Whiteford opens the season on the road at Blissfield on Thursday, Aug. 24.

Second-year Whiteford head coach Todd Thieken said over the summer the Bobcats were able to go over about 85 percent of their offense and 85 percent of their defense between workouts and camp.

“Now it is a matter of shoring that up,” Thieken said. “A lot of football is muscle memory – it has to be repeated over and over.”

Senior Drew Knaggs has been on the varsity for four years. Some of the same football terminology from four years ago is still being used today.  

“It just kind of embedded in me now,” he said.

Not everything is the same in Ottawa Lake, however. The Bobcats will have a new logo on the side of their helmet for the first time in several years, scrapping the ‘W’ that has been a staple on helmets since 2012 in favor of an “OL” logo.