[revrew]

Last year's state champs, the gold-and-black North Winn Mustangs graduated several key players on offense, but the dominating defense is still intact. North Winn returns 6 all-conference defenders this year, including all-state cornerback Chad Doyle. Look for North Winn to ride several low-scoring games to the UMVC championship again this year.

Though nowhere near as dominating as North Winn, the blue-and-white Cresco-Notre Dame defense returns all-conference safety Brent Harden to lead his D. Quarterback O.J. Hutton will provide the spark that should keep the Crusaders near the top.

The red-and-black Garnavillo Hawks look poised to make some noise, with a well-rounded team that adds two sensational freshman this year. Don't let their age fool you, RB Tyrell Lima and Safety Lenny Cameron are about to set every Garny Hawk career record on offense and defense.

The purple-and-silver Lansing Keehawks return all-conferece tight end and big play threat, Darrin Osborne, as well as a crop of young talented wide receivers that can bust some big plays. If Coach Korey Tobin can find an arm to get them the ball, the Keehawks will be flying to the endzone.

All-state guard Kirk Fair leads his red-and-blue Vally of Elgin Tigers in a plan to protect QB Jamal Gaylor, and push their way to a conference championship. The Tigers will need some unproved defenders to step up to make it happen, but look for Valley to win some upsets this year.

Finally, the newest member of the UMVC…or should we say, the oldest? Welcome back, Mar-Mac. The blue-and-gold Spartans are an unknown factor coming into this season. Drawing team members from the formerly consolidated MFL-Mar-Mac and the now closed Clayton Heights high school, the Spartans have managed to put together a talented squad, led on defense by safety Roosevelt Clements and on offense by Fullback Brant Eppbright. The key to the season for the Spartans, however, may be how quickly coach Everett Malone and QB Lincoln Ingram can get this team to gel. Coach Malone came with an impressive resume from a state-qualifying program in Algona, Iowa, to lead the Spartans. He has the talent at Mar-Mac, the question is, can he put it together?

Just for fun, our editors have put together a poll going into the season. Our consolidated pre-season picks are as follows, with total vote points, followed by total first place votes in parentheses:

North Winn, 29 (4)
Garnavillo, 23
Cresco-Notre Dame 21 (1)
Mar-Mac 14
Valley of Elgin 10
Lansing Kee 8