Sam Johnson knows one thing. He knows that the future looks bright for the Northwestern football program, as the Warriors are coming off of a winning season, and there is one thing that the first-year head coach knows, and that is how to win.

Johnson was on the staff of the Tippecanoe football team up until last year, and after enjoying the post season with the Red Devils, he wants to bring that culture to Northwestern right away.

“Hats off to the previous coach Whiting, he did a great job coming into a program that hasn’t seen much winning in a while and made them a winner,” Johnson said. “He started to develop some of that winning atmosphere. We want to develop good football players and make them into better young men.”

“I am taking over a new program where there were good things in place, while other things I wanted to do differently. We had the off season to set the tone for the upcoming season.”

Even with the winning record that the Warriors have enjoyed recently, Johnson knows that things could improve and that could also mean bringing home some hardware in the league.

“Nobody wants to lose games, everytime we step onto the field we want to win,” Johnson said. “These kids also want to win the Mad River Division of the CBC. We think if we can make that next step, we can win the league. That is our main focus.”

Johnson admits it has been a successful summer and pre-season for the Warriors, and he looks for it to continue over into the season.

“We have worked hard in the weight room three times a week during the summer, and introduced a fitness standard that a lot of kids bought into, and set goals for conditioning,” Johnson said. “We took advantage of our coaching days and installed our base offense and defense, and that gave them the idea what practice is going to be like. We wanted to get the kids in shape.”

On the offensive side of the ball for the Warriors include the projected offensive line of sophomore Adam Riedinger at right tackle, senior Wade Hasting at right guard, sophomore Nate Snyder at center, while handling the left side of the line includes junior Ryan Breakall at tackle and Blake Jamison at left tackle.

“These young guys have been thrown into the fire, and we are all excited about their potential and they will get better every day,” Johnson said. “They have the bodies to do it, and they will mature physically and do a good job.”

Leading the skilled positions will be sophomore Eli Berner at quarterback, senior Tanner White and Hasting at fullback, and junior Austin Stanley along with White playing tailback.

The main wideout is senior Xavier Voorhees while at wingback is senior Zac Leist. Playing the tight end spot will be junior Liam Burns.

On the defensive side of the ball, on the line will be Reidinger, Breakall, Hasting and Ian Venavitez.

The linebackers are Leist, White and Stanley, while in the secondary, the corners are Burns and Vorhees while the safeties are Berner and Gage Voorhees.

Handling the special teams will be Voorhees who will handling punting and kicking duties.

“We look to contend in the CBC and have some good teams to contend with,” Johnson said. “Ben Logan will be a high powered team, and Indian Lake will do well. Graham always has good size and Greenon will be much improved. There won’t be a single easy game, and it will be a battle every week.”

Northwestern Football Schedule (all games begin at 7:00- 8/26 @ Southeastern, 9/2 @ Northeastern, 9/9 vs Mechanicsburg, 9/16 @ Tecumseh, 9/23 @ Shawnee, 9/30 @ Ben Logan, 10/7 vs Indian Lake, 10/14 vs Kenton Ridge, 10/21 @ Graham, 10/28 vs Greenon.