Mark Renna, head coach of the Brunswick football team, teaches proper linebacker technique during the first day of practice on Monday. Cooper Sullivan / The Times Record

BRUNSWICK — Just like a new student on the first day of school, Mark Renna gets nervous when the first football practice of the season rolls around. Best and worst-case scenarios run through his mind as he wonders if his team prepared enough during the always-too-short summer break. It’s been routine for his 24-year high school coaching career.

But as Renna enters his second year as the head coach of Brunswick football, Monday’s jitters come with a little more pressure.

Brunswick will return to the traditional 11-man football in Class C South for the 2024 season, after playing in the eight-man Large School division in 2023. The Dragons went 6-4 in their first and only eight-man football season, which included two playoff wins.

When Renna was hired in 2023, he wanted Brunswick to eventually return to the 11-man game. After a winning season rejuvenated interest from student-athletes, Renna and school officials made the decision to jump back to 11-man.

“We could have taken the easy route and stayed in eight-man football one more year,” Renna said after Brunswick’s first official practice. “We made the regional final last year. Odds are we would’ve been back there again this year, but there’s no odds in football, you never know. It would’ve been safe for me to stay in eight-man and just have a really, really good, successful season, but I want the challenge.

“I want to step up. I want to play Leavitt. I want to play Oceanside. I’d like to play Thornton Academy, Portland, the best teams, you know, the best of the best. See where you match up. Again, not saying we’d have a huge outcome with those guys, probably get beat, but at least we’re challenging (our team).”

It is certainly a daunting challenge. The Dragons’ first two opponents are Oceanside at home and Leavitt on the road, the reigning Class C runners-up and champions. They will also face Lewiston, a Class A opponent, to cap the season.

Renna, however, is more than confident his team can withstand any upcoming on-field adversity. The belief has carried over to the players, especially the senior class.

Quarterback Cam Beal and wide receiver/tight end Trevor Gerrish were both freshmen when the Brunswick School Department fired coach Dan Cooper and canceled the remainder of the 2021 season in the wake of its investigation into alleged hazing at a preseason team retreat.

As sophomores in 2022, Brunswick went 0-8 under Brandon Dorsett and was outscored 338-34. The program then switched to eight-man football.

“I think we’ve all put those two years in the past, forgot about it,” Gerrish said. “Now looking at the obstacles ahead, no one’s really scared of anything. We’re going to get through it together as a family.”

Added Beal: “We understand what adversity is; we’ve been through it all. Some seasons we haven’t even made it out of the adversity. So to have really tough seasons to start it off, it makes it really easy when you’re only down a touchdown.”

Both players credit the team’s bond as a big reason for last season’s success, but they credit Renna and a culture of accountability for the program’s upturn.

“He’s built up something unimaginable,” Gerrish said. “Our first two years were so scrambled and unorganized, but he’s brought something together that feels different. Being under (Renna for) the second year, we know everything. We know how he’s going to act, we know how practices are going to go, pregame days, everything’s just set in place. We just have to help the young guys and everything’s going to be a well-oiled machine.”

Brunswick quarterback Cam Beal warms up during practice Monday. Cooper Sullivan / The Times Record

The culture shift has also brought former players back to the program, like Phoenix Despres-Bowman. The senior center/nose guard was a part of the last Brunswick 11-man team in 2022, but took a break from football in 2023 after he stopped having fun.

“He’s a boss, man,” Despres-Bowman said of Renna. “He knows how to coach and you can just tell the vibe (is better) when we are at practice. It’s a family.”

Forty-three athletes participated in Monday morning’s practice, a number Renna anticipated after summer workouts. The Dragons have enough for varsity and junior varsity teams. He expects that number to grow over the next week as some return from illness or vacation. He hopes that there will be enough freshmen players to field a freshmen eight-man squad.

Regardless, he is excited to get back to coaching 11-man football. This is the first year Renna will be the primary offensive play caller, after former offensive coordinator Nick Orsi became the head coach of Yarmouth in the spring.

“We’re going to be run-first,” Renna said. “I’m a lineman and as coach, we can run the ball first, see what you got. Throw the ball when you can, keep the ball, basically, put the ball in your playmakers’ hands. Let them win.”

It’s an offensive philosophy that Beal is more than comfortable with under center. Now, with the addition of three more players and a field 13 yards wider, the options are seemingly endless.

“We can throw the ball well,” Beal said. “We can get time in the pocket, so if I need to scan, I can scramble. We have a really good running back (seniors Jimmy Cook and Liam Scholl), so we can run the ball as much as we need to. I can run the ball. I feel like whatever the situation is, we can fit it, which I think is one of the hardest things to defend.”

Gerrish, who was Beal’s No. 1 target last season — finishing the year with 67 catches, 1,101 yards and 20 touchdowns — agreed.

“We have so many talented players that we can do anything,” he said. “We can move all the pieces around and find the right spots. If that means run 75% of the game, that means run. If we pass 85% of the game, then that’s just what the game calls for at the time. Anything to get that Gold Ball.”