The Dartmouth High football team struggled with no fans or air conditioning in the gym, and hot, sunny conditions outside for their first preseason practice session on August 19.

The 75-member varsity team will finish the summer with daily practice—sprints, pushups, and agility drills included—before getting into a regular practice schedule with school opening on September 1. Head Coach Rick White said his goals for the preseason are getting the team into physical shape via conditioning and developing the team mentality so everyone gets along.

“The first three days are about finding out what chemistry we have as a team,” White said.

The past few years have been very successful for Dartmouth football. The Dartmouth High Indians picked up back-to-back Division 3 Super Bowl titles in 2014 and 2015, but White cautioned that he does not let the success of previous seasons play into his expectations for the new season.

“If [the team] can focus on what they need to do to get better they’ll be fine,” White said. “They don’t need to live up to anyone’s expectations but their own.”

White added that the team has lost about 20 seniors, but he said a dedicated group of rising juniors and new players should step up and keep the team competitive.

“We have a good group coming back. You have to rebuild the team each year,” White said, adding that he usually loses about 18-24 seniors every year.

For team captains Cole Jacobsen, Liam Caulfield, and Colin McCabe, this will be their final season as high school athletes. Although all three said they are sad to be moving on after graduation, they hope to enjoy another season of football.

“We have a good team this year,” Jacobsen said. “They’re going to give it their all.”

The Indians will host Dighton-Rehoboth on August 31 for their first preseason scrimmage. The team’s season opener is an away game against Middleboro on September 9.