The new school year is just around the corner, and one group of Portage Collegiate students will be getting together ahead of time.

The PCI Trojans football team's first practice of the new season is set for Monday. Head coach Brendon Brydges says this season will be a little bit different than previous years.

"Games start on the 7th of September. So, the first week of school. The league has restructured their divisions. They're going with a AAAA and a AAA division," Brydges explains. "We're in a bit of a tougher conference this year, but I'm really excited to see how things go."

PCI hosts their season opener against the Oak Park Raiders in just over three weeks. Brydges says the team will have some veterans, but youth will be a large focus of the 2023 campaign.

"We have a decent amount of returning guys, but we're not going to have a huge Grade 12 group this year. We're going to have a lot of Grade 10s and Grade 9s, especially with the Bantam program not having a team this year," Brydges continues. "The handful of Grade 12s we do have will be relied on heavily to lead this team and keep everybody focused."

With the team being so young, Brydges notes they are looking at things through a 2-3 season lens; however, the coach says they still want to compete this season.

"I don't want to do a disservice to our veterans. I want to get as far as we can for those graduating players because some of those guys have been huge parts of our team for the last three years," says Brydges. "Long-term, we'll be looking ahead to a couple of years from now when this big group of Grade 9s and 10s are in Grade 11 and 12."

Brydges doesn't have too many expectations for the squad this season other than putting their best foot forward in this new division. Whether they win or lose in game number one, the head coach is just happy football season is back once again.

"I've been looking forward to it for a few months now. I always have a good time out there with the coaches and players. A lot of those younger guys were really excited when we were out there in the spring, and they were disappointed when we didn't get to play a spring game. I'm excited to see some of those younger guys finally suit up and get in a game situation."

The Trojans' seven-game regular season runs from September 7 to October 19.

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