High school football preview: Palm Springs Indians

Finishing with a 2-3 league record last season, the mindset of the Palm Springs Indians is to bounce back and have their head held high. 

"They can expect us to compete," Indians head coach Darryl Goree said. "That's our big thing. We've been saying that since spring ball. We gonna compete every time we get out on the field."

When the Indians come onto the field for their first Friday night light game of the season, expect Palm Springs to be tough and physical. 

"Mentality of this year's team is hit hard, go out fast and just play ball," Indians junior linebacker Koa Rapolla said.

With their mentality, the Indians want to be the team standing alone at the top. 

"To win, win everything," Indians junior running back Jordan Johnson said. "A few years back when we won league, it was a three-way tie between us, PD and I think La Quinta, and so this year we're just trying to win it by ourselves. We want to win league by ourselves and then try to make a better playoff run than we have in the past year."

Throughout the Indians season, PSHS wants to show that the old-school Palm Springs football never left. 

"We're just kind of trying to bring that old Palm Springs back, just kind of the Palm Springs everybody been looking for," Indians junior running back Johnson said. "We kind of fell off for a minute. We kind of got a little bit softer, you know, the game style that the Indians kind of had kind of died down, but we're trying to bring that old, you know, smash-mouth Palm Springs football back."

Palm Springs's first league game is against La Quinta, and the team's message this year is to prove that they can once again finish in the top half of the DEL.

"Don't count us out," Indians junior linebacker Rapolla said. You know, we'll always be in there, always going to be in the running. You can always count on us to work hard, and we're going to win this year."

Stay with KESQ News Channel 3 for continuing coverage of high school sports throughout the season.