Two-a-days: Haslett determined to “get over the hump,” Leslie seeks return to 2024 form

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Week two of the 6 Sports two-a-days tour kicks off with stops in Haslett and Leslie. Last season, Haslett finished 8-3 and lost to Williamston in the district championship. The Vikings are determined to get back there and get "over the hump" by winning their league in the regular season. "I think every year we start with the league, that's [goal] number one," said head coach Brad Thomas. "You want to win your league. Those are the teams you play every year, so the goal is there for the guys to do that. We've come in second place four years in a row now, so we want to get over that hump, and win the league, then make the playoffs, win a district. You can go down the line. There's all those goals, but I think it all starts with the league and advancing from there." The Vikings graduated star running back Kory Amachree, who is gearing up for his freshman season at the University of Kansas. Amachree rushed for 1,196 yards and scored 16 touchdowns for the Vikings last season. Despite losing all that production, Thomas feels good about where his young running backs stand. Additionally, sophomore Ty Fritz will take over at quarterback. While this will be the young QB's first season starting, he has a veteran offensive line in front of him. "I think we're fast," said senior offensive lineman Sam Czekalski. "I think we're physical and I think we communicate really well and I think that's going to help some of our younger guys develop behind us. I think this is one of the best o-lines we've had in a while, so I think we're going to play fast, downhill, physical football." Thomas also added that this year's group is extremely close, and spends a lot of time together outside of the field. "They hold each other accountable, but also when they leave the field, that holding accountability doesn't take away from their friendship," he said. "I think that's super special because sometimes groups can get in fighting and it's a group that has been very tight for a long time." Haslett will kick off the season at Linden High School on August 27th. Over in Leslie, the Blackhawks are excited to get back to work after a promising start to the 2025 season fell apart down the stretch. The Blackhawks went 10-2 in 2024 and started the 2025 season 4-0, but they lost five of their last six games to close the year. As head coach Tim McCann reflected on what went wrong for his team in some of those games, he felt the emphasis of the offseason needed to be on finishing in the fourth quarter. The Blackhawks lost a number of games they led in the second half, and of their five losses, three were decided by four points or less. "I think it was a lack of experience of being ahead in those games," McCann said. "We hadn't really experienced that the past couple years. Being able to figure out how to finish those games once we get those leads and continue that into the second half. We played great the first two quarters, kind of started to fall off in the third quarter in four of those games, and being able to finish those games, that's been our goal all summer is figuring out how to finish games." Leslie returns a lot of talent, including two-time All-Conference quarterback Joel Cranmore and MHSFCA All-State wide receiver Braydin Johnson. "[Braydin and I] have been playing together since third grade so that one, the chemistry is always there," Cranmore said. "We just crisp it up every year, and the [majority] of us have been playing all together since we were in third grade so it's always nice to have those guys next to you when you go out there on the field." With the returning talent and a hungry group of newcomers, the Blackhawks are hopeful they can return to their 2024 form. "There's no quit," McCann said of this group. "We try to push them mentally and physically this first week just to try to get them to the point where when we get into scrimmage week and we get into a game week, we can slow it down a little bit and we're only looking at one thing. Mentally, physically throughout this week they've been responding to everything we've thrown at them, and they get tired and they just keep working and that's exciting." The Blackhawks will also be without senior standout Jackson Fossitt this season. A talented multi-sport athlete, Fossitt is committed to play baseball at the University of Kentucky and has made the decision to focus fully on baseball. While Leslie will miss having him out on the football field, McCann said he completely understands and appreciates what Fossitt brought to his program the last few years. "He's going to focus on baseball and I respect that decision," McCann said. "That's a tremendous responsibility that he has and for him to be able to make that decision at his age and give up something that he loves, I know that wasn't easy. We've had a lot of conversations, and we miss Jack, we love Jack, but we wish the best for him." Leslie opens its season on the road against Stockbridge at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28th. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WLNS 6 News.