Grace Community set for second season under Tim Russell

Published 1:35 pm Friday, August 18, 2023

Grace Community couldn’t have asked for a much better start to the Tim Russell era.

The Cougars started the 2022 season 5-0 and went 9-2 in their opening year with Russell at the helm. With seven starters back on offense and 10 starters returning on defense, Grace enters 2023 with high expectations once again.

“I think we overachieved in some ways last year,” Russell said. “I didn’t know what to expect. And I think the guys they bought into what we were doing really quickly, and things went well for us. I think it seems like most years, golly if we could just get some breaks and stuff … and last year, we caught some breaks. I think hopefully this year we will make our own breaks. I feel comfortable knowing the kids, being with them a year and seeing what they can do.

“I think starting out, we should be able to be a lot farther ahead than we were last year. And depending on our opponents, I think we will have a really good season.”

Russell was joined by seniors Dylan Taylor, Grant Turner, Blake Harmon and Seth Wilson at a fall sports media day at the CHRISTUS Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute on July 24 to talk about the upcoming season.

“I’m ready to get going,” said Taylor, a linebacker. We’re going to win a lot of games this year. We’re going to be good. I feel like we have a better offense this year than we did last year. We’ve got a great quarterback and a great backfield. Our defense is even better. Our defense is going to be scary.”

“I’m so ready,” said Turner, who is a running back, wide receiver, kick returner and linebacker for the Cougars. “We’ve got a lot of guys coming back on defense, and the team is much better than we were last year. We’ve already got all of our stuff implemented in from the new coaches. We’ve got a running start coming in. Last year, we were back on our heels, but this year, we’re hitting the ground running.”

“The expectations are definitely set really high because we had a great season last year, but we want to make a deep playoff run and really have a great overall year,” said Harmon, who is the Cougars’ kicker and punter and also plays linebacker.

“The expectations are to do our best and win,” said Wilson, an offensive lineman and defensive lineman. “We’re coming from 9-2, so we want to improve and maybe go all the way to state. That’s the goal.”

Grace plays at Winona to open the season on Aug. 25.