GRAFTON, Wis. (CBS 58) - Grafton football made history last year with the program's first state championship win since 1982. But to the Black Hawks, that's old news.
"For me, as great as it was, you have to turn the page pretty quickly," said head coach Jim Norris.
That's exactly what the reigning D3 champs did entering this offseason, knowing the challenges of this upcoming year.
"We have a bigger target on our back than we did last year," said senior Jack Nelson.
With every team in the state circling Grafton on their calendars, that's put a further emphasis on getting one percent better every day.
"Our weight room numbers are up since last year and our speed numbers are faster than last year too," said Nelson. "I think we have more talent in this room than we did last year so it's going to be exciting."
Now that might seem farfetched to have more talent than a title-winning squad that finished 14-0 and scored 35 points per game, but it's all a credit to the team's offseason work. Though the Black Hawks didn't grow as a cohesive unit without struggles.
"We had a really tough practice our first practice of camp," said Norris. "It felt like we couldn't do anything right, you know we couldn't tie our shoes correctly, but we regathered and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of our camp week was outstanding."
A recentering around the mantra that Grafton football was built on.
"Pounding the rock isn't just running the ball," said senior Hudson Miller. "It's getting up after getting a hard hit, getting up after a bad play, and doing it every time."
"We're not just going to be able to pick up a new sledgehammer and it's going to break," said Norris. "You're going to have to swing the hammer every day, chipping away, doing the hard manual labor, the blood sweat and tears knowing that in a month, maybe two months, it's going to crack."
A rock that cracked last season and one the Black Hawks are hoping they continue to chip at this year to repeat as champs, just as the program did in 1981 and 1982.