Duluth Denfeld Football Looks to Build Off Successful 2023 Season

The Hunters will begin the season on the road for the first two weeks. First, traveling down to Mora and then heading north to Grand Rapids.

DULUTH, Minn.- The Duluth Denfeld football team had their best season in a long time, posting a 7-2 record in 2023 and was one of the last team’s in the picture for the Section 7AAAA title.

Like many teams this week, the Hunters are putting that in the past as they gear up for a new year.

There’s plenty of things that makes Denfeld a viable contender this year, including the returns of running back Taye Manns and lineman Rajon Gamble.

Head coach Erik Lofald says his team isn’t going to relax though even with the success of last season.

“We have set pretty high expectations as a program like we don’t want to go back to having losing seasons. The expectation is to win. When you look around at the section, the district, it’s a grind. So there really isn’t a break any week. We don’t have any off weeks so it’s really going to come down to who stays healthy. Again, we talk about depth, who’s going to enjoy the depth and maybe have some kids step up that we weren’t expecting really play a role this year, it’s going to be crucial,” said Lofald.

As for the players, they say they spent plenty of time together this off-season to keep the camraderie high.

“We kept a lot of great players and we kept a lot of chemistry. I think my class is really big and the junior class below us is also really big. We’ve been working together a lot very well. With the UMD camp, we were in the best position play wise, team wise, working as a one wise that we’ve ever been,” said lineman Rajon Gamble.

The Hunters will begin the season on the road for the first two weeks. First, traveling down to Mora and then heading north to Grand Rapids.

The contest against the Mustangs takes place on Thursday, August 29th.