EAST ROCKHILL – Trevor Fuhs and the Pennridge football team haven’t spent much time thinking about their three-win 2023 season.

“We just watched the film, learned from our mistakes and just kept going,” said the Rams senior linebacker/tight end. “At this point, you’re so far into the season that you have a whole new group, who knows who’s going to be out there next year, so we’re just going to keep going, start the next chapter, start working, lifting weights,

“We started in the second or third week of December, took a short break over New Year’s and then started again in January. So we got started right away.”

Pennridge led 2-2 under coach Kyle Beller after back-to-back wins over Bensalem and Abington, but the Rams were only able to record one more win after a couple of close losses – 15-14 over Pennsbury in Week 6 – and lost by just one point to Central Bucks East (18-17 in double overtime) and North Penn (17-16).

A third consecutive Thanksgiving loss to Quakertown meant the season ended with four consecutive lost games and a final score of 3-8.

“That was last year, we got it over with,” Beller said. “Even during the week, no matter what happens, win or lose, we get it over with and move on. And when the season was over, we had our banquet, we got it over with and we were in the weight room the next day. The banquet was on Sunday, we were in the weight room on Monday and started our next season.”

“We’re just here. No matter what happens, it’s those guys now. The past is the past.”

After three head coaches in three seasons, the Rams are on more stable footing after another offseason under Beller, looking to turn things around and record their first win since 2021.

“The camp was a lot more efficient, I think this is the best run camp I’ve been a part of in my entire high school career,” junior quarterback Noah Keating said. “So I think it’s going to translate really well into the season opener. I think our first game – last year we played Downingtown East – we got crushed, but that wasn’t the team we played the rest of the season.

“I know we were down 8-3, but we had a lot of close games and just didn’t fit well as a team at the beginning of the season. That’s why I think we’ll be a lot better early on this year rather than later.”

Pennridge begins the season with two home games, first playing against District 11’s Liberty before hosting Truman. The Rams visit Bensalem in Week 3 and then begin Suburban One League National Conference play at home against Pennsbury. Five of the Rams’ final seven games are on the road.

“Everyone is hungry, everyone wants to win,” Fuhs said. “Everyone on this team has the desire to win. I feel like this is the most connected team I’ve ever been on, in all four years of playing as a freshman. And I feel like everyone has the desire to win, and we’re doing our job to get to that point.”

Keating was an all-conference honorable mention quarterback and returns to the offense as the starting quarterback looking to improve its 13.7 points per game average in 2023.

“He’s a junior now, the handcuffs are off,” Beller said of Keating. “I have expectations for him and, even better, he has expectations for himself. So we put a lot on his plate and expect a lot from him and he’s making progress so far.”

Another aid in the task of increasing point production is an offensive line with more experience and greater depth.

“We’re fighting, we have competition this year, which really helps when you have competition,” Beller said of the offensive line. “They all got some playing time last year, which is really important, they know what to expect out there, and the best part is they’re competing against each other now. And like I said, there’s competition, so if one of them messes up, we threw the next one right in and they know they have to step up. We didn’t have that, we weren’t that far ahead last year.”

The Rams have said goodbye to first-team All-SOL National receiver Joe Gregoire, but are returning passing attack seniors Chase Marshall and William Wallace and junior Chase Clontz.

Junior running backs Ryan Rowe and Thomas Ginnetti as well as tight ends Fuhs and senior Cade Bachman are also being considered for the offense.

“We have a lot of guys that play a lot of football,” Beller said. “I expect them to compete in every game because they’ve been there, they’ve been through the fire, we’ve had our close games, now it’s time to get them out.”

Fuhs earned All-Conference honorable mention as a linebacker last season for his defense, which allowed 20.0 points per game. The senior has worked to improve the pressure he puts on opposing offenses.

“I wanted to blitz more,” he said. “I obviously blitzed a lot last year, but sometimes I got stuck on the line, so I definitely worked on that a lot in the offseason, blitzing, coming from behind, usually coverage, just overall speed and agility, just everything, just to make sure I’m the best version of myself this season.”

The offseason efforts of Fuhs and the rest of the Rams are why Beller is confident his second season can be better than the first. Now the Rams just have to prove it on the field.

“I believe that they’re in the weight room, how hard they work, and I believe that they believe and know how to win, that they have that certain ‘it’ factor, that certain confidence,” Beller said. “But we still have to do it on Friday night to get there.

“But they are training well. At every training session we have taken a step forward, sometimes it has gone back and forth, and I think it is a very positive thing to always take a step forward and not a step back.”