photo by: Nick Krug

Eudora High School quarterback Gavin Elston throws a pass over a Shawnee Mission West defender during a scrimmage on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at the Kansas football practice fields.

There’s a familiar level of excitement around Eudora High’s football program this summer.

Proving winning is contagious, the Cardinals want to see what they can do for an encore after earning a trip to the Class 4A-I state semifinals last season.

“There’s a lot more pressure and expectations for us to do as good as the team before us,” senior lineman Ethan Leahew said. “We just need to step it up and prove to everyone that we can.”

At the end of the Monday’s Kansas University football team camp at Memorial Stadium, most schools were walking to the parking lot to head home.

On one of the practice fields, the Cardinals were still working on plays. They watched how hard last year’s team worked during the offseason and they said they needed to match that effort if they wanted to return deep into the postseason.

“I’ve been impressed, even though it’s only been a week,” Eudora coach Phil Katzenmeier said Monday. “We’ve had a couple of conditioning days and then some camp days, that type of stuff.

“You kind of get this ship running the right way and then it’s a lot easier to make all of the adjustments that you might need to make.”

Eudora concluded its weeklong team camp on Wednesday, which included two days at the KU team camp.

The Cardinals were more than happy to put on helmets and shoulder pads for the first time, lightly hitting other schools during scrimmages. During three days of practice last week, they went through plays and drills without pads.

“It’s a lot different and a lot faster,” senior linebacker and tight end Ryan Verbanic said. “But it’s easier because they are doing the things better. It’s easier to read than our (junior varsity) because they are just kind of sitting there. It’s fun.”

Katzenmeier, Eudora’s second-year coach, was an assistant coach when the Cardinals made back-to-back appearances in the 4A state title game in 2011-12 and he’s noticed an added enthusiasm from his team during the offseason.

“For us (coaches) it’s the same expectations that we had,” Katzenmeier said. “Now the kids, they kind of lost that, but I think it’s back.”

Senior running back and safety Lee Andrews added: “Compared to the expectations that were held on us last year, I’d say they were a lot higher because of the run we made into sub-state and everything. I like it. I would rather have the pressure, honestly.”

With the school’s team camp over, the Cardinals still have plenty of work they want to accomplish for the rest of the summer. Besides daily lifting and running at 8 a.m., they have 7-on-7 drills on Mondays.

“We don’t have much momentum because most of these people didn’t play last year,” Verbanic said, “but we’ve got a lot of pressure because they went to sub-state and you can’t follow that up and not do much.”

Without a huge group of returning starters, the Cardinals are confident they can make up ground before the start of the season.

“The senior class this year, I feel like we’re a pretty good class,” Andrews said. “We’re going to get things going and everybody is excited to get the season started. Everybody is going full tilt so it was fun.”