Each Friday, 15 starters from the junior class suit up to take the field; with starters at every key position, Kings Football could not function without them. 

“When you have 15 starters on an 8-0 team that’s a big deal. You don’t see this type of depth from a class very often,” Nick Hoying said. 

The junior linebacker attended Saint Margaret of York, a private catholic K-8 school before coming to Kings, but still feels right at home with the team.

“These guys have all been growing up together so I just feel lucky to come in and be a part of this culture and brotherhood,” Hoying said.  

Growing up playing together has been a vital part of the success for the Knights. A good amount of the players from the class of 2023 have been playing together since elementary school. This group has been labeled as one that could be special from a young age, various community members even saying they could win championships for their school.

“We’ve known coming up for a while that the 2023 class was special but without everyone else, we wouldn’t be where we are as a team today,” Junior linebacker Hunter Jones said. 

Jones has been a part of Kings Football since first grade, where he was a member of the first official class of 2023 football team, along with other starters such as quarterback Will Kocher and defensive lineman Justin Berg, among others.

“I feel like we have a special bond that can’t be created any other way, we have grown up with each other and it helps to create a sense of playing for each other rather than ourselves,” Jones said. 

The group likes to keep it loose on and off the field, constantly keeping each other relaxed and comfortable. 

“Those guys really like to joke around and have fun, maybe a little too much at times, but I think that really leads to good relationships not just between them, but the entire program,” Linebackers Coach Ryan Frambes said. 

The team has three core values that they focus on upholding throughout the season and offseason. The first of which, Love over everything, is put in place to remind the players what is most important to think about and who they are playing for. Choose to be your best, the next core value, helps to cement the idea that each player should give maximum effort every time they step foot on the field. Power of the team, perhaps the most important of the three, focuses on chemistry within the team, which can be a large contributor to success on the field. 

“We don’t have the most talented dudes out there, but the reason we’re doing so well and winning big games is because of the relationships and the chemistry out there,” Frambes said. 

Competition has always been a big piece of the puzzle for the class as they are constantly trying to outwork the guy next to them on the practice field and in the weight room.

“The group we have right now enjoys competition. They don’t accept mediocrity from themselves or their teammates, ” Head Coach Alex Garvin said. 

The aggressive competitiveness comes out each Friday night when a real opponent is lined up on the other side of the ball.

“By the time they get to the field, it’s a team that doesn’t have Kings on their jersey on the other side. That’s when that nastiness can start to come out,” Garvin said. 

Senior wide receiver Andy Bauman feels that it is up to the senior class ahead of them to pave the way for the class of 2023 as they attempt to do things never before accomplished at Kings High School.

“The junior class is who we are passing the program off to. Next year they will be the leaders and it’s up to us to show them how it should be done,” Bauman said.