Silver Lake football fueled by tradition, unfinished business entering 2024 season

SILVER LAKE (KSNT) - Silver Lake is a place, to many, synonymous with small town high school football.

Most of the Eagles' players heard stories from their dads, uncles and grandfathers about suiting up for SLHS on Friday nights. Multiple generations before the current group played for the same coach: CJ Hamilton.

Hamilton, who spent nearly half a century leading the Eagles' football program, built a tradition so strong that it needs little explanation from Silver Lake's current head coach Logan Pegram.

"We're not installing," Pegram told 27 News, acknowledging he no longer feels like the new guy. "We're not reinventing the wheel. Kids know what to do. All summer we've worked on it [with] 7 on 7... They know who we are, we know who they are. That's a good thing. That familiarity of them getting to know what we expect. It's kind of been engrained into them now."

The Eagles return a bulk of their starters but lost a starting running back and quarterback. Pegram says senior Dysen Schooler, junior Ben Renfro and sophomore Jett Ross are in the conversation to start under center.

What comes to mind when the head coach, entering year three at the helm, thinks about the 2023 season?

"Unfinished business," Pegram said. "It's not where we want to be... A lot of highlights, the people and the memories are always important. But, at the end of the day, that's what I love about being here. We know how we define success and we fell short of that the last two years."

His players feel a sense of responsibility to uphold the standard built and sustained by so many before them.

"Since I was a little kid I'd come to the games," Silver Lake junior receiver/ safety Dayne Johnson said. "... It means a lot to this town so trying to contribute to that."

"I take a lot of pride [in upholding tradition]," Silver Lake senior receiver/ cornerback Brody Deiter said. "My grandpa and my dad both played here in high school. I think it's my turn to step up and carry on this legacy and show the young guys they can do it too."

Silver Lake opens its 2024 campaign with a bang: The War on 24, a meeting with rival Rossville, awaits in week one.