Zack Bradley can already feel the emotion and determination from his own self as well as his teammates.

Yet, Bradley will need to wait a few more days until football practice officially begin Monday.

That is when Bradley and his teammates will be ready to take their steps to defend their Colonial League championship and look to capture a District 11 Class 2A title. But the senior signal caller, who threw a school-record 28 touchdowns and compiled 1,835 yards through the air, knows this will be a year in which teams in the league will be gunning for the large target on the Roughies' back.

Bradley admittedly will feel some of the heat.

"Yea, it will be a different feeling this year," said Bradley. "As the year went on last season, I could feel more pressure on me. This season, there are a lot of expectations on all of us. But we're all embracing it and we're moving forward as a team.

"Last year, no one knew about me or the team. Now, every team wants to get us. We all know what we have to do and we all have confidence in each other."

Bradley already has heard all of the inquiries about how the team can get past Pen Argyl, the defending Class 2A champion, and has turned a deaf ear.

"We have all heard all of the stories about how we can't beat Pen Argyl," noted Bradley. "But we're going to do the same thing we did last year take one game at a time. Right now, we're focused on our first game with Wilson (Aug. 31)."

After a record season, Bradley also hasn't been overcome with any personal hype and has set some modest, yet, challenging goals for himself.

"My one goal this season is to win two championships a Colonial league one and a district one," stressed Bradley. "That's all I'm really worried about. The rest will take care of it itself. We're all about the team."

Head coach Tom Falzone has been stirred with Bradley's maturity and development into one of the area's more recognized quarterback.

"He (Bradley) has a lot on his shoulders last season and he took it all in stride," said Falzone. "(Bradley) became more comfortable and grew each week. This summer, he took it upon himself to elevate his game another level."

Bradley participated in his team's five passing camps and he also worked through prospect camps at Penn, Lafayette, Monmouth, and Wesleyan, all colleges Bradley has an interest in attending next fall.

"I went to the camps to try and get better," said Bradley. "But these are also schools I have interest in. By going there, I worked with their coaches and got a feel for what the campus is like. It was a good experience for me."

Bradley also has been impressed with the play of the team's underclassmen, many of whom could be starters or viable backups this fall. Many of them gained some valuable experience last season when the Roughies won seven of their 11 games with the mercy rule.

"I definitely think some of the younger guys gained more confidence through last year," said Bradley. "They got their chance to play two quarters or more under the lights in a number of games. But overall, you can see how some of the younger guys have more confidence already due to what happened last year."

Along with a budding group of underclassmen and a veteran unit, Bradley will be ready to take the reins next week.

"With us seniors, we see this as our last shot," evaluated Bradley. "We have to put it all out there. We all know we will have to work a little harder. But we're all ready to get it going."