Normal West leaned on its defense in the fall of 2022 en route to a Big 12 football championship.

This year, Coach Nathan Fincham says the Wildcats will turn to its offense to be the catalyst in the defense of that conference championship. 

For Coach Fincham and his staff, the offseason is often similar in the schedule that is put together but he indicates the dynamics of each team determine how he approaches the focus and the way they approach that schedule.

It will be an almost entirely new defensive unit this fall for the Wildcats but Coach Fincham indicates the way they want the kids to play doesn't change.

Coach Fincham anticipates around 130 or 140 players and says numbers are up for this year. He says the goal remains to defend that Big 12 Conference championship and have a high seed in the postseason. 

He feels it may seem from the outside looking in that they lost a lot of talent but he hopes it is a reload and not a rebuild year for his team.

Normal West opens the football season at Champaign Central.