A yardstick is mainly used to measure items, but it can also be used to motivate people.

Inside the Aberdeen Roncalli weight room is a yardstick that the Cavaliers have been looking at ever since last year’s football season ended exactly one yard short of a game-winning score.

Roncalli lost in overtime in the quarterfinals of the playoffs when a two-point conversion came up just short. That prompted coach Billy Young to use a yardstick as a reminder of just how close the team was to moving on.

“It definitely motivates them because they know how close they were and what they’re capable of,” Young said of that setback. “The Monday after that loss we had a team meeting. I had a yardstick with me. I just told them, hey we were this close. We hung that yardstick up in the weight room for them to look at. That’s been a visual for them to kind of (say), hey don’t cut corners, don’t take reps off in the weight room, finish everything we do.”

The Cavaliers return nine starters on each side of the ball this season so expectations are high.

The offense will be led by Jackson Isakson who will be starting his fourth season as quarterback. Other key skill position players include Maddox May, Abe Kretchman, Phillip Zens and Andrew Brennan. The offensive line, which features Brenden Livermont, Landon Zikmund, Thomas Griffin, Joey Johnson, Josh Schaunaman, Kaden Clark and Brody Weinmeister, is experienced and athletic.

“We have a couple of younger tackles that are a freshman and sophomore that we’re really excited about, too, so there’s a bit of depth there on the offensive line, which is something we’ve missed in past years,” Young said. “We’re going to be more athletic at offensive line than we have been in a long time. We have two guys on the offensive line who were participants at the state track meet as sprinters.”

The Cavaliers have traditionally been very solid on defense and that should be no different as the team has many proven two-way starters, and special teams will also be a plus as Isakson already owns the school record for longest field goal.

While the physical pieces appear to be in place, Young focused on the mental side of things this past summer.

“I think one of the things in the past that’s hurt us is when something went bad and didn’t go our way in the middle of a game, in kind of lingered. One bad play would turn into a bad series and then that would turn into a bad game and that could turn into a string of losses,” Young said. “We spent a lot of time this summer working on that.”

The Cavaliers brought in a mental conditioning coach from South Dakota State in the offseason who “talked to our guys about how to get themselves refocused if something goes wrong,” Young said.

Last year, Roncalli won back-to-back playoff games for the first time since 2018 and now the Cavaliers would like to go even further this fall.

While it might be tempting to look down the road, Young wants to focus on the present and not put too much emphasis on the future as the players prepare to open their season against Groton at 7 p.m. Friday at Dacotah Bank Stadium.

“We try not to place too much of that (long-term pressure) on the kids. We tell them to just focus on what’s right in front of you,” Young said. “Let’s focus on this practice today and not worry about 8, 9, 10 weeks down the road. That stuff will fall into place if we just take care of today.”