CJ kicks off season with first practice

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CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — The most significant part of the first day of football practice for Carl Junction head coach Todd Hafner was simply having all his players in one place — together and ready to begin building the foundations for a successful season.

“I think the biggest thing is we get to be out there with our kids,” Hafner said. “The way that summer is set up, you get to be with your kids, but you have kids on vacation, you have kids going to church camp and things like that.”

But on Monday evening, all his players gathered for the first time together on the field at Bulldog Stadium, and there was no shortage of enthusiasm.

“No, it is time to focus on football and just see the smiles and the kids running around,” Hafner said. “Our coaches our full of energy. It’ a beautiful night and we are very blessed that we are able to get out her and be with these guys.”

Hafner led an up-tempo practice, with no time wasted between drills as the fourth-year coach hurried his players to step up quickly for each drill.

“We want to pack in more reps and get them in shape,” Hafner said of the tempo. “We have to get them back to where they were. We are going to have to play kids both ways, like a lot of teams we play, and we have got to be in better shape. The faster we go, the better shape they get in and the longer we are going to be able to play good on Friday nights.”

Conditioning seems to be key for Carl Junction — three of the Bulldogs’ five losses last season were one-possession games.

All of the coaching staff from last season, with the exception of offensive line coach Jesse Wall, has returned. Hafner moved Joey Dankleson to that position, but everything else is the same. Hafner talked about the importance of that continuity for his kids.

“It’s huge,” he said. “They get to see the same faces and know the coaches’ expectations. We’ve instilled that (continuity) in each other and have tried to instill it in our kids.”

Hafner talked about how that continuity is most evident during practice.

“You can tell that they know what we expect,” Hafner said. “We know that they know that we expect them to go fast, to do the right thing, to pay attention, to listen and to be tough. The biggest thing we continue to emphasize is that doing hard things is OK and football is hard.”

One of the players Hafner will lean on is quarterback Burke Diskin, who will be starting under center for the first time this year after the graduation of Mason Gilbert.

Diskin talked about his mindset, knowing that the Bulldog offense is now his to run.

“It makes me want to lead more and influence these guys out there a little more,” Diskin said. “I’ve been waiting for my turn for this. It’s here now, so I’m excited.”

Diskin was not short on optimism about this year’s edition of Bulldog football, despite the graduation last year of conference offensive MVP, running back Marcus Lopez-Durman.

“I think we are going to surprise some people,” Diskin said. “People are saying we had a lot of people leave, but I think we have twice the athleticism as we had last year, and I’m excited to see what we can do.”

Senior linebacker Sayre Sundy was all smiles when he talked about how it felt to be back on the field.

“I’m so excited. I love football and I have missed it for sure,” Sundy said. “Being back here with all the guys, it’s just great and it’s been a great day one for me.”

Sundy also talked about how to turn those close games from last year into wins this season.

I think it’s just discipline, really,” Sundy said. “We are working on that, especially with the younger guys, the newer guys. We are teaching them to stay disciplined and do their job, whether it is on defense, offense or special teams — it is a three-way game — we just need to stay disciplined.”

The Bulldogs kick off their 2026 campaign on the road at Strafford on Aug. 28. Their first home game will be Sept. 4 against Nevada.

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