Tim Wilson remembers the glory days of Dexter High School football.

That’s because he was one of the architects behind the success.

Now he is in his third season trying to rebuild the program into a consistently competitive team, and he is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming campaign.

“We’re at the point where the kids I have are the style of kid I like. They are academically sound and they’re beginning to understand the game and what sacrifices have to be made to be football players,” said the 67-year-old Wilson.

Having 14 seniors and juniors among his 28-man roster should help considerably as the Tigers look to improve upon last year’s 1-8 season which represented Dexter’s sixth straight losing season.

Dexter has 16 returning players in all.

“We played well in a lot of games up to a point last year. Then we ran out of gas. The kids we have back played a lot,” said Wilson.

One of those players is junior tailback-linebacker Doug Richardson, who was the LTC’s eighth-leading rusher with 579 yards on 136 carries.

“Doug is a tough kid,” said Wilson.

There should be significant improvement on both sides of the ball.

The Tigers scored a league-low 63 points while surrendering a league-high 441 points.

Junior quarterback Andrew Lockhart suffered a shoulder injury early in the season and that created a significant void.

Lockhart is back for his senior year, and if he can stay healthy, that will certainly help Dexter move the ball. Wilson said the Tigers will throw the ball 25 percent of the time.

Lockhart will benefit from taking snaps behind a veteran offensive line that will include brothers Keegan and Quinton Glidden, a tackle and a guard, respectively. Keegan Glidden is a senior and his brother is a junior. Senior John Johnson is the other tackle and the Tigers have a pair of good tight ends in Zac Poirier, a junior, and sophomore Tim Gustin.

Junior Kasee Wilson is the fullback and the wide receiver is senior Cameron Doncet-Hall. Junior Justin Kestloot will see some service at tailback.

The defense will feature linebackers Richardson, Poirier and Johnson; end Keegan Glidden; cornerbacks Doncet-Hall and Kestloot; tackle Wilson and safety Gustin.

Lockhart could see duty at safety or linebacker.

Wilson said he doesn’t have a player who weighs more than 200 pounds, but having a small, quick team is preferable as far as Wilson is concerned.

“I want 11 people chasing the ball [on defense] and working together,” said Wilson.

Wilson enjoys his players, saying, “They’re good people.”

And the rebuilding of the program from the ground up is going well.

Wilson pointed out they have a lot of players in the middle school and good numbers in the youth programs, also.

“It’s going to take some time. I don’t know if I’ll be the person to finish it out, but at least I’ll get it set up in good shape, which is what I intended to do when they asked me to come, said Wilson.

DEXTER TIGERS

2007 results: 1-8

Head coach: Tim Wilson, 3rd year

Key players: Doug Richardson, Jr., TB-LB; Andrew Lockhart, Sr., QB-S-LB; Cameron Doncet-Hall, Sr., CB-WR; John Johnson, Sr., OT-LB; Keegan Glidden, Sr., OT-DE; Quinton Glidden, Jr., OG; Zac Poirier, Jr., TE-LB; Tim Gustin, Soph., TE-S; Kasee Wilson, Jr., FB-DT; Justin Kestloot, Jr., TB-CB

Outlook: If the Tigers can stay healthy, they should be noticeably improved over a year ago and could even contend for one of the eight LTC playoff spots. They will be smaller than they have been but much quicker on both sides of the ball. And 16 of the 28 players gained a lot of experience a year ago.