The Weston Ranch High School football team is working towards a better season for the 2022-2023 school year. The Cougars will join a new league for the 2022 season, and they are working hard in the off-season to make sure they are ready for the transition.
The Cougars finished 2021 with an overall record of 1-9 and were 0-6 in the VOL. However, under the guidance of head coach Ron Wayman, the football program has been growing, and the attitude has been improving; both indicate the Cougars are headed for better days.
Wayman said, “I think if our players play to the best that I know they can, this will probably be one of the best teams we’ve had in years. With most, if not all, football players either playing another sport or in the weight room, getting themselves prepared for the new season, they are working towards bettering themselves and bettering as a whole team for the next season.”
The switch from the VOL to the SJAA will be strange as the Cougars will play entirely new schools. Weston Ranch will face six new opponents, except for Franklin High School, who the Cougars have played regularly in the preseason. In addition, Weston Ranch will face the daunting task of playing perennial Sac Joaquin power Edison, so the Cougars must get to work now.
“(The switch) will be a different and new experience for the players to be playing in a different league,” Wayman said. “We’ll just have to prove ourselves because the competition will be high.”
“The players have either been playing another sport or there in the weight room, and we say that’s a brilliant way to get ready for the upcoming season,” Wayman said. “We believe that it not only will help the football team excel but will give them a way for them to push themselves to do even more this season.”
So, as the Cougars put in the pre-work, the coaching staff has reflected on the past seasons. Wayman believes the program has learned a great deal and will use its knowledge to make an impact in 2022.
“We need to work hard in all parts of the game. But, if we take the program to the next level, we have to take the extra steps,” Wayman said. “Watching the game film and being physically and mentally fit are some of the steps we will need to take. I’ve learned the harder you work, the more you work put in the preseason, the more you put in work over and above just regular practices are the things that will give us the confidence to become the best versions of ourselves.”
Weston Ranch will open the 2022 season against Grace Davis on August 19 at Weston Ranch.
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