Although the Wildcats won their first district game 42-20 against Quannah on Oct. 8, the team has had to deal with multiple injuries and has also moved the junior varsity up with the varsity.
Defense coach Donny Gray said one of their biggest struggles so far is working with injuries.
“We’ve had to move a few people around and try to find the best spot to be successful,” Gray said. “It’s been a work in progress, but we’re reaching our goals as we’re getting healthier and as our guys learn new positions and gain confidence from playing them.”
Sophomore Elijah Jackson said there is some lack of consistency.
“Sometimes I see that we’re not always on the same page,” Jackson said. “We need to know what we’re doing as a team and have some consistency among ourselves and the team together.”
Head coach Shad Hanna has been working around injuries since the first game of the season.
“It’s been a strange season so far,” Hanna said. “Some of the injuries I’m seeing now I haven’t really seen before, or at least they’re not very common. But the one thing that really helped us and is probably the only good thing that’s come out of these injuries is the amount of reps some of the guys are getting that haven’t really had the opportunity to get reps before. As the initial starters start recovering, we’ll be able to see a lot better football team just because we have so many other kids that can step in and play so many different positions if someone needs a break, and we can still be successful.”
Senior Ty Bates, quarter back, recently recovered from an ankle injury.
“We’ve obviously had a lot of injuries, but we’ve had the younger kids step up and play,” Bates said. “That’s been a big part of our game so far. They’ve had to be willing to be moved around, play different positions and do something new.”
Coach Hanna said there are improvements to be made.
“We’re catching the ball okay, but we need to continue to get better and catch the though balls,” Hanna said. “Once we start making those hard catches, it’ll make us a better football team.”
Coach Gray said the team has a lot of potential.
“We’re a very talented team,” Gray said. “We have many multiple players this year who can do many different things and play different positions to help us be successful. Recently we’ve had three different guys in three new position, but they were all really successful, which really shows how talented they are and the potential they have.”
Jackson said he wants the team to improve on diligence.
“We’re all very athletic,” Jackson said. “We just need to learn how to finish out plays and finish a game. We need to play smart.”
Bates said he’s seen the team struggle with consistency.
“We’ve struggled with being on the same page all the time,” Bates said. “But we’ve switched from hand signals to wrist bands recently, so that’s gone pretty well. It’s really helped us out.”
Coach Gray said he enjoys working players into different positions.
“After having so many players injured, we’ve really had to adjust,” Gray said. “It’s not always a perfect thing. We’ve had a couple of players move around and they’ve had to learn to adjust.