TRAER — There’s a lot of new faces taking up important roles for North Tama this season. Gone is the senior core that propelled the Redhawks to a third-place finish in their Class A district in 2021 with a 6-2 record and made a run to the quarterfinals of the playoffs, falling short 28-7 to Grundy Center and missing out on a trip to the UNI-Dome by one game.

Gone are Gabe Kopriva and Devin McKinley, the catalysts for one of the best offenses in Class A thanks to a unique pass-first “run-and-gun” approach to the game, along with Adam Greiner and Aiden Zook.

Stepping into those roles will be players who had roles last season but will be asked to take greater responsibility to keep the Redhawks in the conversation. Michael Schrier, Kolt Knaack and Logan Siemens are three of the players who were bit-part contributors in 2021 but will now step into the spotlight for North Tama.

Schrier said the team’s continuity in scheme despite losing a big group of seniors is one of the reasons the team is optimistic about the year ahead.

“It’s going pretty good, taking it one day at a time,” Schrier said. “We got a lot of guys who are similar to the guys we had last year so we’re working on the same scheme.

“It’s actually really nice because we got a heads up of what’s going on.”

Other returning letterwinners include Tyler Popelka, Ryan Hosek, Clayton Boldt and Lucas DeBoef. Defense was a key part in the Redhawks’ playoff run, and with Kopriva and McKinley out the defense will take on a different look as well. The leading returners on defense in terms of tackles are Schrier with 50 tackles last season and 27 solo tackles alongside Hosek with 43.5 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and a half a QB sack. Schrier is the only returner to have forced multiple turnovers in 2021 with one fumble recovery and two interceptions.

DeBeof is stepping into a much bigger role and as one of the team’s captains, he said it’s been an adjustment in figuring out how to utilize his voice with the roster.

“You just gotta teach the youngsters how to do stuff, and that’s kind of fun,” DeBoef said. “It definitely feels good because I used to look up to all of the seniors, I just hope they can look up to me the same way I looked up to our past seniors.”

North Tama’s season begins on Aug. 26 at home against Belle Plaine. BCLUW, Hudson and Grundy Center (the final game of the regular season on Oct. 14) are the Redhawks’ other home games. Important away fixtures include a trip to Wapsie Valley on Oct. 7.