SALEM, Va – When it comes to Glenvar football you're guaranteed of two things -- a blue-collar work mentality and consistency.
"People are just buying in to our mentality here and our work ethic and having that mindset throughout," said Glenvar head coach Kevin Clifford.
"Once you get to that point of people believing, then it becomes easier to sell. But you still have to work," Clifford said.
The Highlanders have had double-digit wins in four of the past five seasons, including a state championship in 2014. While the injury bug hurt the team in the playoffs a year ago, Glenvar is back to full strength, returning its leading rusher Bradey Loder and leading tackler in Colby Street.
"We're nasty man ... everyone on that defense likes to run and likes to hit. Everyone we have out there is a ball player and it shows," Street said.
"I think we're going to be just as good, if not even better, out there on offense. Even though we have new guys coming up, everybody showed up in the off season and is ready to play," said Loder.
Protecting home field will have added meaning for the Highlanders in 2019, since they'll line up on a newly installed artificial turf field.
"We're very grateful for that. It's going to be exciting. We won't have to move any games or postpone games or no one will complain about playing on our crummy field," Clifford said.
"It's going to be nice not having to worry about any holes out there in the grass for sure. We're not going to worry about moving any games due to weather, we'll always be able to have our home games, because it is a different feeling when you have to move a home game away," said Loder.
A fresh field doesn't mean automatic wins, so the Highlanders stay focused on the task at hand.
"We're just going to come out, have a good season, hopefully win a few ball games but, if nothing else we know we're going to work. We're going to be competitive and when people play us, they're going to feel it," said Street.