SHERMAN, Texas (KTEN)- Last season left Grayson Christian with a sour taste in its mouth.

“If you’re best is 2-5 than that’s your best, but I believe that we’re better than that," head coach Jonathan Saucedo said. "I don’t think that we gave our best in every single game, and I think that was the message this year. I need your very best.”

The Falcons have three seniors and three juniors on their roster this year, and they’re passing that message down to the underclassmen.

“We got to want it," junior running back/defensive end Ayden Stout said. "We got to go out there and go hard every play because that’s what every game depends on."

Saucedo believes those six upperclassmen could work wonders for the Falcons this fall.

“Six-man football is fast and one broken play can turn into a touchdown," Saucedo said. "We need the seniors out there to calm everybody else down and say, 'hey, it’s going to be okay. It’s a long game.' You can’t get enough experience. It means everything."

In addition to being experienced, the Falcons should be more unified this fall.

“We all work as a team and when we work as a team, we’ll win more games," senior wide receiver/linebacker Jasper Anderson said. "Because last year, we weren’t really working as a team. We’d go off on our own way and we’d mess up.”

That togetherness will be vital as Grayson Christian continues to display growth in its new zone defense.

“They understand the defense more," Saucedo said. "They’re more aligned, and I’m hoping we turn the game of six-man into a defensive game.”

But even bigger than that goal, is the desire of the Falcons players to make it back to the postseason this year.

“We’ve missed playoffs the past two years and we’re sick of it," Anderson said. "We’re hungry. Because I’ve seen brothers cry because we haven't make it to the playoffs. So to fulfill that, it would mean a lot.”

Grayson Christian will get its 2023 season under way on August 24 when it travels to Savoy.