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The Avon Pirate football team kicked off their season Friday, August 23rd with an away game at Colman-Egan. The Pirates dominated with a score of 60-38. The Pirates have another away game this week Friday, August 30th at Sioux Falls Lutheran and their first home game against Burke on September 6th at 7 p.m. Head Coach of this year’s team is Justin Lukkes. This is Coach Lukkes’ second year as head coach and 19th year of coaching in Avon. He is assisted by Brad Bierema. Coaches for the Jr. High football team are Drew Hento and Kamron Haase. The team has several volunteer coaches including Devin Tolsma, Marshall Faulkner and Dan Fathke. This year’s team has six seniors including Aziah Meyer, Pierce Jonkers, Kahle Hill, Landon Mudder, Jaydon Driesen and Devin Rucktaeschel. Lance Odens, Kash Peterson, Al’Shamon Gunter, Jamisen Pelton, Trenton Soukup, Jacob Ratzlaff, Treyvan Talsma, Caleb Tallman and Randall Powers are juniors on the team. Sophomore team members are Braylon Fathke, Grayson Ratzlaff and Dominic Doom. Up and coming freshman team members include Easton Sees, Weston Bierema and Parker Podzimek. Eighth graders on the team include Beau Tolsma, Kuyper Rush, Zander Fathke, Brenson Ratzlaff, Mason Milk, Jacob Sassaman, Sean Schryvers and Austin DeVries. The Pirates were active in the offseason in preparation for this year’s season. They held the Great Plains Conference Camp and attended the South Dakota State University nine-man team camp. Highlights of last season include Class 9B State Champions, six All-Staters, two Academic All-Staters, three Great Plains All Conference players and one Honorable Mention. The Pirates ended the 2023 season with an overall record of 10-2. Goals for the 2024 season include to grow and play hard as a team, have kids step up into new positions and roles that were vacated by graduating seniors, play Avon football – tough from start to finish, stay healthy, make another deep run in the playoffs and hopefully have another chance at a state championship title. Aziah Meyer will be a big part of the offense just as he was last year. Landon Mudder is a great fullback and all-around leader. Devin Rucktaeschel and Randall Powers returning to the line will be a huge asset to the team. Al’Shamon Gunter will be a big help on defense again this year as well as offense. This season has another tough schedule. The Homecoming game is always a tough game and this year it will be against a tough Corsica/Stickney team. There are two teams changing classes from an 11-man team to a nine-man team, meaning that the Pirates will have to face Tripp-Delmont/Armour/Andes Central-Dakota Christian and Scotland/ Menno which could be interesting. The schedule also has some different teams from the northern part of the state. As the head coach of the Pirates, Lukkes is most looking forward to seeing the kids grow as players and young men, who work together to achieve the team goals. Coach Lukkes’ coaching philosophy focuses on hard work, team work and running the football. Playing hard and tough from start to finish has always been what Avon football is about. Basics are also very important, if the team cannot complete and excel at the basics then it is hard to be a good football team. Coach Lukkes would like to thank the community and fans for all of the support last season. It meant so much to the players as well as the coaches. The coaches and team hope to see the fans and community out again this year supporting the team. Go Pirates! Best of luck on the 2024 football season!