WALKER - The Walker football team is looking to build off a 10-3 record and their first trip to the quarterfinals last season.

Chad Mahaffey's Wildcats return starting quarterback Troy Silve. Coach Mahaffey believes Silve has a good grip on the offense in his third year of experience under center.

Hybrid running back and wide receiver Cayden Jones will also be a guy to watch on the offensive side of the ball. Expect him to play more as a running back this fall.

While those two guys will be important to success, Walker's mindset as a team will determine just how far they go.

“(I) Really don't usually set like a number of wins or something like that, I mean, I just want to see us play to our capabilities, get better as the season goes on,” Mahaffey said. You know, last year we were fortunate to make it to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history, so that was a great experience. But, you know, the big challenge for these guys is are they going to expect those things to just happen because it happened last year, and I hope that we've gotten the message that, you know, we're going to have to earn anything that we want this year.”

The Wildcats don't return a ton of starters, with 4 on offense and 3 on defense, but coach says the new guys have plenty of experience playing important football.

Mahaffey really likes the numbers he has on both the offensive and defensive line, but his squad is a little thin in the secondary.

The Wildcats host Ponchatoula to open their season on September 6.