Notre Dame Prep has come a long way since the doors opened 16 years ago.

Opening a school itself is hard, but building an athletic program that can compete with local powerhouse teams is also difficult and takes time.

For some schools, building athletic programs can take many years with lots of coaching changes. For the Saints, it took 14 years for their football program to have successful, consistent seasons.

For the past two years, the varsity football team has remained undefeated during the regular season.

“It is important to have players train in the offseason,” said head coach George Prelock. “It is important to get into the weight room so that players can develop physically, and it is important to stay in contact with players about the playbook.”

Football season is year-round at Notre Dame Prep. The nice weather also helps and does not prevent the boys from being able to practice in the offseason. 

The Saints were defeated last year in the championship game.

“I would say that we as a team feel great about going undefeated back to back regular seasons,” said senior Jake Smith. “But we don’t feel accomplished until we win a state championship."

The Saints defeated Gilbert in the first round of this year's playoffs. The coach and players then had to prepare for this week’s game against Millennium and hope to advance on in the playoffs.

“The boys do an outstanding job of focusing on the task at hand,” said Prelock. “We stay focused on a week to week basis.”

Besides the team, the student body has joined together as well as the community to support the Saints as well.

“We have a great student body who come out and support us on a weekly basis,” said Prelock. “I think it gives the community something to look forward to every Friday night.”

A strong group of underclassmen gives hope for more success in 2019.

“This year’s undefeated season will bring us confidence next year,” said junior Brock Locnikar, “so we can compete and beat all of our competition.”

Besides the outstanding athletes who play every Friday night, their accomplishments and ability would not be possible without the coaching staff.

“I owe all our success to my teammates and great coaches," said Locnikar.

Should NDP make it to the Class 5A championship game, it will be played at Sun Devil Stadium on December 1 at 12:30 p.m..