Under recently retired head coach Lyle Alumbaugh, the Panorama Panthers varsity football team made seven straight postseason appearances from 2009-2015. Alumbaugh stepped away last November after his only losing season with the program, and he handed the reigns of the Panther football program over to a youthful optimist in Mike Kauzlarich. The Raccoon Valley Radio Network watched Panorama’s preseason scrimmage last Friday night against the Ogden Bulldogs and interviewed multiple football players and Kauzlarich afterwards. Kauzlarich spoke about making the playoffs as a general goal the squad has this fall and has had the team adopt a ‘why not us’ mentality. “Once you make the playoffs, anything is possible,” Kauzlarich said “Somebody’s going to win the state championship here in a couple of months, why not us? Everybody else is high school kids just like our guys, and everyone worked out in the summer, just like us.”

Kauzlarich added if the team buys into that mindset, he feels they have the talent and high character athletes to win football games this fall. A new era of Panorama High School football kicks off in Fort Dodge tonight against the St Edmond Gaels with the varsity kickoff set for around 7 p.m.