Ilwaco line/tight end coach Brett Hopkins directs players during the first day of practice last week.

Ilwaco is kicking off its football season under Ron Rood with high hopes.

And the new coach said the Fishermen’s season will be based on one simple word: Belief.

“It is going to take us a little time to get the program to a point where we can get the kids to be competitive, but it is just a question of belief in themselves,” he said.

Rood, a retired teacher, has coached with Fife, Concrete and Zillah high schools, and more recently assisted in Astoria. He is a member of the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He takes over from Sean Cease, who coached the Fishermen from 2018 to 2021 and left the district this summer to take a job closer to family.

After the team’s first practice in mid-August, Rood said “We had good numbers,” regarding the roughly 35 players on the field, enough to potentially field a junior varsity team for the Fishermen for the first time in a couple of years.

“We’re pleased about that.”

Some aspects will be a work in progress, but the team is showing signs of improvement overall.

“Some parts are really good,” Rood summed regarding his first impressions of the team. Rood was especially impressed with the progression of the linemen who have shown “vast improvement” compared to last season.

Rood said the team is still a “little thin” in the backfield but is hopeful to get more skill-position players up to speed before kicking off the season.

“We don’t expect to just be competitive, we expect to win,” Rood said, adding that the task will be especially tough this season, particularly with Pe-Ell, Morton/Whitepass, Raymond and football powerhouse Napavine looming on the schedule.

An Aug. 27 jamboree against Astoria and Warrenton gave the coach a better idea of the team’s positives. “We saw some good stuff and some bad stuff,” Rood said. “We are still trying to figure out who we are.”

The first home games will be against King’s Way Christian Sept. 9 and then the combined Raymond/South Bend squad Sept. 16 before the long bus journey north to Forks.

Napavine is on the schedule in October. The Tigers breezed through the 2B state tournament last fall, then lost a close game to Kalama in the championship; in 2019, they were semi-finalists or finalists the two years prior, too.

Returning Ilwaco staff are line coach Brett Hopkins and quarterback/defensive backs coach Eric McMillan. Matt McKinstry will coach the linebackers.

Rood said one key element will be instilling a winning mentality among student-athletes, “and knowing what they have to do in practice to achieve that.”

Ilwaco 2022 Football Schedule

Sept. 2. North Beach (a) TBA

Sept. 9. King’s Way Christian (h)

Sept. 16. Raymond/South Bend (h)

Sept. 23. Forks (a)

Sept. 30. Rainier (h)

Oct.. 7. Pe Ell/Willapa Valley (a)

Oct. 14. Napavine (a)

Oct. 21. Morton/White Pass (h)

Oct. 27. LaConner (a)

Nov. 3-5. Game TBA

All 7 p.m.