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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Cornerstone Christian Chargers are coming off a banner season with its first state championship in just its second year playing 8-man football, and the question after a state championship is always how you can follow it up.

For the Chargers, they hope to build off the foundation that they’ve set in hopes of running it back, and that continuity starts with the roster, which has all but two players back from last year.

All-County quarterback and safety Zeke Adams has seen a great work ethic from the team over the summer, and that excites him going into the year.

“I feel like the work we put in this summer is completely different from the work we put in in the past,” Adams said. “I feel like we’ve 110 percent put in a lot more effort, and I’m really excited for this season.”

It’s now about getting the most out of the team by challenging themselves on the field and in the weight room to take that next step, and each player has their own individual goals for the team.

For Adams, it’s perfecting tackling to maximize their defensive success. Senior wide receiver and cornerback Noah Schober hopes to utilize their additional weapons spread out the defense. Drake Dunning’s goal is for the defense to be more aggressive, and Hampton Etheredge wants the defense to both tackle and cover better.

The hope is that those gains can complement an offense that already ranked as one of the highest scoring in the state and will only get more dynamic with experience players back to open the playbook up even more.

That progress is being driven by a highly motivated senior class that wants to win more than anything else.

“I feel like I’ve never wanted something more,” Dunning said. “I really want to win this year, and I feel like we all really want to win this year, not just to have like a legacy, but really just show like we can do this again and again and again.”

Those seniors lead the way for the Chargers, as evidenced by the fact that this is coach James Lee’s first media day that he brought all seniors. They help develop a family atmosphere that they hope will lead to another successful year.

“I won’t ever have to coach a group of guys like this ever again,” Lee said. “This is one of those things that you coach and you have good groups, but groups of young men and what they do, not just on the field but off the field, it’s just absolutely amazing to me. I wish people could see them at chapel praying with other kids, that’s what these guys are about. When they talk it, they’re walking it too. They’re our leaders, and what they do, not just on the field, but off the field, is what makes our school the school it is today.”