Courtesy Photo/Ben Murphy Onaway junior Hudson Decker is the lone returning starter for Onaway this season.

ONAWAY — The Onaway football team had a spectacular 2020 campaign. The Cardinals went 6-0 during the regular season and shared a piece of the Ski Valley Conference championship.

Onaway, which lost its opening round playoff game to Newberry, is going to have to reload in a hurry if it is going to repeat that success however, as it loses all but one starter from that team either to graduation or injury.

“They are learning fast, but we are just inexperienced and young,” Onaway coach Steve Klinge said. “It is just one of those things where they haven’t really played a lot of games since youth ball. They are learning and working their butts off though and I’m excited about it. I’m still learning too, where to put people and what plays we are going to do and all that stuff.”

They’ll have to grow up in a hurry too, as the Cardinals open the season Friday at Inland Lakes for a Ski Valley Conference contest. The Bulldogs marched their way to the Division 1 semifinals last season, before COVID-19 complications forced them to exit the tournament.

“They are obviously going to be talented,” Klinge said. “They are a talented group and well-coached and they are coming off a big run where they would have made a good run at the title last year without the whole COVID situation. They had younger kids that were super talented, so I expect them to be pretty on point. I expect them to be guns blazing and ready to go. We are going to have our work cut out for us no doubt about it but I think we can handle it.”

With senior Jager Mix is expected to miss the season due to an injury, junior running back Hudson Decker is the team’s lone returning starter. At quarterback, Klinge believes sophomore Jadin Mix will be the team’s starter, while sophomore Brendan Brewbaker could also see time under center. They could feature a young offensive line as well, with sophomore Trey Price and freshmen Levi Rigot and Luke Lovelace also expected to start on the line.

“Mix is a super athletic kid and he picks up on things real quick, but Brewbaker has worked his butt off and is getting after it and I don’t feel like there is a huge drop off at all if we have to use him,” Klinge said. “Decker will run the ball for us quite a bit, and we have fullback (sophomore) Gavin Green, he is a beast of a runner so we are looking for good things out of him. Running backs (junior) Evan Domke and Brewbaker should have a good year for us too.”

While it is going to be tough for Onaway to replicate last season’s success, Klinge feels that this group is up to the task.

“They expect it now and they have had a lot of success at the youth level, so there is some talent there, but still it is freshmen and sophomores playing against juniors and seniors a lot of times,” Klinge said. “There is a big gap in age, my kids are just as talented but you get faster and stronger the older you get and that is what we are figuring out right now.”