FOOTBALL: Bangor hopes for another successful reload after high roster turnover

There's that old axiom in sports: next man up.

In football, it's trotted out when a starter goes down due to injury and a backup has to take their place, or when a key player's tenure with a team comes to an end and someone else must fill the void left behind.

For a program like Bangor football, "next man up" isn't just some well-worn cliché — it's at the very foundation of what's allowed them to be successful for as long as they have. When one decorated senior class graduates, the next group waiting in the wings is ready to step up and take their place without hardly missing a beat.

The 2024 season will represent a good test in just how strong the Cardinals' foundation of reloading rather than rebuilding truly is.

Bangor needs to replace a boatload of talent that graduated this past spring, including a slew of players who earned all-conference first-team honors: Chase Horstman (running back/inside linebacker), Lucas Reed (offensive/defensive lineman), Caleb Hemmersbach (offensive lineman), Sam Crenshaw (kicker/punter) and Samuel Cropp (outside linebacker).

The list of their graduated second-team All-Scenic Bluffs honorees contains Cropp (running back), Hemmersbach (defensive lineman), Derek Bores (offensive/defensive lineman) and Garrett Brezany (defensive back).

"We want the guys to look at it as an opportunity," said Bangor head coach Todd Grant. "There's going to be turnover every season. You're always coming in talking about the group of seniors you lost, but we've got a group of seniors coming in too and they have things they want to prove. They want to leave their mark on it, and this is their opportunity."

Despite the roster turnover, the Cardinals aren't without their familiar faces. One of the most notable returnees is senior Landon Phillips, who landed on the All-SBC first team as a tight end and earned second-team honors as a defensive back in 2023.

In addition to Phillips, Bangor has several other established contributors on defense with junior Gabriel Cropp and senior Eli Tucker at linebacker and senior Josef Gasper on the defensive line. Grant also expects Cropp and Gasper to serve in linchpin roles at the guard positions along a new-look offensive line.

Junior Hayden Massman takes the reins as the Cardinals starting quarterback, succeeding Nolan Michek under center.

Tucker is in line to get the lion's share of the carries as the team's lead running back, with senior halfback Bryce Peterson, junior halfback Dylan Mathison and senior fullback Tanner Wells all primed to get touches as well in Bangor's run-oriented offense.

"I'm just ready to go hard and follow behind the line because I know they work hard a lot and I don't want to disappoint my teammates," Tucker said.

There will surely be some growing pains early on as everyone gets acclimated to their new roles, but this is the moment they've been waiting for: the chance to write the latest chapter in the decorated story of Bangor football.

"The seniors every year, they're pushing the guys below them," Phillips said. "So, the tradition never leaves, it just keeps going with every class."