BROOKINGS – Earlier this summer, the Brookings football team took a trip out to the Black Hills. On the first night, the Bobcats practiced on the field and went into a 7-on-7 drill. The Bobcats worked hard and continued to practice until the coaches ran into a problem – they couldn’t get them off the field.

“It was completely dark,” Brookings football coach Brady Clark recalled with a smile. “They couldn’t even see the football. They were just playing 7-on-7 and it was a bunch of kids that love playing football.”

Scenes like this are typical of strong programs but are rare among teams that had the season the Bobcats had one year ago. But the Bobcats’ program grew from that experience and are looking to show it on the field beginning with Friday’s opener against Sturgis at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The growth begins with where Brookings football was last season. The Bobcats had a young roster with 41 underclassmen. In most instances, a program like this would be filled with juniors who had some varsity experience but the Bobcats were extremely young with 29 sophomores and 12 juniors.

The lack of experience showed from the opening kickoff as Brookings was shut out in road losses to Watertown and Pierre to begin the season and lost their home opener to Huron 41-6. The youthful mistakes piled up and although a homecoming victory over Douglas was the highlight of the year, it represented 37 of their 43 points scored last season.

With four straight shutouts to end the year, most teams would have been discouraged with a 1-8 record heading into the offseason. But the Bobcats took it as a teaching moment.

“I think the biggest thing we learned is what it’s really like to be a team,” Clark said. “Sometimes you have to go through tough things in life to really learn those lessons. And I think they really approached the offseason with that mentality.”

To take advantage, the Bobcats made some adjustments. A new acceleration program was installed to help move the football team's culture in the same direction. Clark took his team to the camp in Black Hills University as part of a bonding experience heading into the upcoming season.

One of the biggest benefits of the changes were the Bobcats’ communication on the field, which left guard Andrew Hahn believes has improved over the summer.

“I feel like it was good for us,” Hahn said of the summer. “Just the learning experience of seeing the faster pace of varsity football and that will help us be ready for everyone else this year.”

But Clark also believes the program helped galvanize his team. While players were learning the responsibilities of new roles a season ago, the basics have been learned, leaving players to use their knowledge to help the team succeed.

“I think with the speed of the game – the calls, how quick they come in, how quick adjustments are made – they’ve definitely learned those things,” Clark said. “But just as a program, they have a better understanding that we have to be together and we have to be a brotherhood and we have to all sacrifice for one another and support one another through this process.

“We practice a heck of a lot more than we play, so when it comes to game time…we are the ones that are fighting for each other on the field. Being a young group, that’s a harder thing to learn and really understand until you go through what we went through last year.”

One of the fruits of this process has been the development of a leadership group.

Hahn, linebacker/tight end Bergen Tetzlaff, defensive end/tight end Egan Jensen and fullback/linebacker Gabe Stern are a part of that group that has stood out over the summer and is the type of leadership that Clark believes can trickle down to the new players the Bobcats will field this fall.

“They are the kids in the program that are the top 10 percent,” Clark said. “They believe in all of our core values. They believe in everything we’re doing. They’re fully bought in. And that mindset, it trickles down, right?

“You are who you hang out with, so if our leadership guys have that mindset and are bringing it to practice and meetings and everything…younger guys are going to see that and emulate it. And because they see them being successful on and off the field, why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that? That’s how you build a program.”

A conversation with the core group confirms Clark’s beliefs. Each has a passion for the game of football and believes that some of their bigger goals – such as a return to the playoffs – can be accomplished through a series of smaller goals or as Clark put it, “first downs before touchdowns.”

“I feel like there’s an improvement from last year in all phases of the game,” Jensen said. “I think we’ve just got to make that step forward and realize that winning is everything sometimes but we also have to improve on the little things.”

Stern also echoed Jensen’s observation, focusing on the smaller tasks for a big payoff.

“We have the big goal of winning a championship,” Stern said. “But you’ve got to get the little goals first of winning this play and winning the next play.”

The Bobcats have already managed to reach some of their goals off the field. At this time a year ago, they were taking their first steps to competing at the varsity level. This year, they have an overall increase of kids in the program and are looking to take their next step.

It’s progress that was apparent on that June night in the Black Hills and it’s a process that could be seen when the Bobcats take the field this season.

“We were just sitting up in the stands watching and laughing,” Clark said. “It’s those types of moments that naturally happen that tell me this group is built different. It all starts with the group of kids and the leadership we have coming into this year.”