The Montgomery County football team is setting its sights on finishing with its fourth straight winning season this fall.

But the Wildcats will have to do it without a strong senior class that had six players named to the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team in 2021. MCHS lost 12 players to graduation.

“I think our guys are going through a little bit of an adjustment period because we lost a big senior class last year,” said John Klekamp, who is returning for his 13th season as MCHS coach. “We lost a lot of varsity experience and a lot of good players went out the door with graduation. These guys are trying to figure out what it means to be a Friday night player. We have a lot of guys who want to play football, like football and want to work, but they don’t understand quite the level that we’ve got to get to.”

MCHS has several returning key players from last year’s team that finished 6-4, including seniors Adam Czerniewski, Matt Clark, Gunner Sexton and Travis Hill. All of them earned all-EMO honors a year ago.

Czerniewski is back for his third year as the Wildcats’ starting quarterback. He was named second-team all-EMO quarterback in 2021 after throwing 1,409 yards with 10 touchdowns and rushing for 899 yards with nine TDs.

“Adam has done everything he possibly can to put himself and his team in a great position this year,” Klekamp said. “I’m looking forward to coaching him again.”

Klekamp has high hopes in senior offensive lineman/linebacker Harrison Bishop, who had five tackles last year.

“Harrison has done a lot to prepare his body mentally on the defensive side and has done a great job in leading the guys in practice as well,” Klekamp said.

Rounding out the senior class are Dominic and Brendan Luttrell, Cayden Thurman and Aiden Brush. Klekamp said the seniors are always willing to help out their teammates.

“They’re very encouraging of all of their teammates,” Klekamp said. “They’re really good leaders. We spent a lot of time talking in the offseason about what it means to be a leader. We received a book from coach (Stephanie) Finke and we’re doing a little bit of a book study. It’s ‘The Heart Of The Champion’ and it’s a great book. I see those guys putting in a lot of things we’ve talked about in the offseason and in practice. I’m really excited for them.”

Klekamp said juniors Jacer Brower, Jace Ellis, Connor Finke, Mason Leu, Landon Massey and James Pollard will also be key players for the Wildcats.

“That junior class is a really good group of guys that have really come together and have really done a lot to care for each other, not only on the field, but off the field, too,” Klekamp said.

The Wildcats will start their season at 7 p.m. on Aug. 26 against the Hermann Bearcats at Jim Blacklock Field. Last year, MCHS snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Bearcats with a 31-16 win at Hermann.

“We told the boys that it doesn’t matter who we’re playing in week two, week four or week six,” Klekamp said. “Hermann is who our main focus is right now.”

The following week, MCHS will take on Monroe City in a home game. Last year, the Panthers won 11 games and captured a district title in Class 1.

“Monroe City is probably one of the best small school programs in northern Missouri,” Klekamp said. “We like putting them on our schedule. We need to up our level of play, so we’re going to play a really good team.”