It's back to the gridiron for the Windsor Lancers football team.
The Lancers kick-off the 2024 season at home Saturday afternoon against the Queen's Gaels.
Windsor finished the 2023 regular season with a 6-2 record and beat Carleton in the quarter-finals before losing to Laurier in the semi-finals 21-14.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Lancers football head coach Jean-Paul Circelli says his team is ready for the upcoming season.
"Our guys are chomping at the bit," says Circelli. "I think they're tired of hitting eachother and really looking forward to hitting somebody else coming to our great city."
He says a lot of veteran players have returned to the team.
"Building upon last year's success we expect to be competing for the conference championship," he says. "So I think anyone that comes down to watch, you're going to see a real hard hitting team, a team that likes to have that blue collar mentality and really reflects what the city is all about."
Circelli feels to have success the team needs to run the football and stop the run.
"I think anyone that watched the team a year ago knows we like running the football but defensively leading the country in sacks and having the sack leader return on our team, we got a lot prominent players that are very physical and are getting a lot of notoriety at the next level in the CFL," says Circelli.
Kick-off at Alumni Field is set for 4 p.m.
The Lancers have their first road game of the season next Saturday, August 31 when they travel to Ottawa and battle the Carleton Ravens.
WE BACK.
— Windsor Lancers (@WindsorLancers) August 23, 2024
Are you ready to win?
🎥 @evanjohnson.mp4#LancerFamily #WeBack #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/FJkkHw817r