AUGUSTA — As desolation set in for his players on a windy November night in Maine’s capital city, B.L. Lippert could hardly have been any more blunt.

The Cony football coach rarely sugarcoats things, not that there was much to whitewash after his team’s 28-18 loss to Lawrence in a Class B North semifinal. Addressing the team following the game, he lamented how the Rams had been bullied and pushed around by a tougher opponent.

“He was honest with us, and he was 100 percent right,” recalled lineman Steve Witham. “We all did our best in that game, but we didn’t put the work in in the offseason to make it happen, and it definitely showed. Since then, we’ve spent every day (working hard) and getting bigger and stronger.”

Now, with its 2025 season opener just days away, it’s time to see just how much that step up in commitment has paid off for Cony. The Rams are seen by many as the favorite in Class B North, and to live up to that moniker, they’ll have to show they’re a bigger, tougher, stronger team on the field.

Expectations were sky-high for Cony last fall, and for good reason. While the Rams — who went 7-4 and reached the regional championship game in 2023 — brought back a large chunk of their roster, many of their Class B North foes had lost key players.

By no means did Cony have a bad season, as it earned the No. 2 seed and a playoff bye, but 5-4 was not what the Rams had hoped. Games such as a 38-14 loss to Medomak Valley in Week 6 and the playoff loss to Lawrence were particularly frustrating, as the Rams were beaten physically up front.

“We thought coming off the year before that we were going to blow everyone out of the water, but that wasn’t reality,” said linebacker Kaiden Veilleux. “We didn’t put in the work to be as good as we thought we were. This year, we’re definitely more focused, and we’ve put in that work in the offseason.”

One area where the Rams had to show more commitment, Lippert said, was in the weight room. Whereas the Cony teams of the 2010s often had 40-50 players in the weight room on a given day, that number was frequently around the 15-20 mark leading up to the 2024 season.

After the season ended, the Rams quickly showed that newfound commitment to the weight room their coach was seeking. The Wednesday after the playoff loss, nearly 40 players showed up, the team’s most in years. That continued throughout the offseason, with 35-40 Cony players lifting on a typical day.

“Our summer and 7-on-7 stuff has always been good, but it was that winter lifting that really wasn’t where it had been for us in the past,” Lippert said. “This year, there’s no question that it’s been one of our best offseasons, at least since COVID hit. It’s the most work they’ve put in in a while.”

One focus immediately was for the Rams to establish baseline numbers for their maximum lifts and squats to compare from the end of winter to the beginning of summer. By the beginning of April, 28 Cony players had received T-shirts rewarding them for hitting various lifting goals.

You can see the results in Veilleux, who, by replacing fat with muscle mass, has gone from 200 pounds to the 185-190 range. Others have beefed up; Witham has gone from 260 pounds at the start of the offseason to 285, while Bohdy King Jones, another lineman, has gone from 275 to 290.

The conditioning? That’s better, too. Whereas Witham said he could barely run a mile last year, he’s now capable of running three. Veilleux and King Jones also said their cardio has improved, something the latter said has also contributed to the team’s toughness.

“I feel faster and stronger, and I think those things really go together,” King Jones said. “I think that’s something a lot of us feel, that we’re tougher and faster than we were last year. We knew what we needed to do, and we were determined to come into this year as a tough-as-hell team.”

That added toughness might be the last thing Cony needs to put all the pieces together. With all 11 starters back on offense and 10 of 11 on defense, a senior-heavy Rams team that’s always a contender thinks it’s in a strong position to win its first regional title in 12 years.

“Going out and getting 350 yards put on us by Lawrence, that’s something that’s been motivating us,” Veilleux said. “We knew we had to come back, get in the weight room and make sure that doesn’t happen again, and it’s not going to happen again — by anyone.”