Sports

The ‘Bulldog’ days of summer

By Kyle Austin - Sports Editor
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The loss of seniors each year effects all football teams, but it’s even more of a blow when there aren’t many juniors and sophomores around to replace them.

That’s exactly the difficulty Holtville High School faces this season, although head coach Mike McCluskie said he is encouraged by his younger players’ grasp of the game so far.

“They’ve done better than we’ve expected,” he said. “We’re going to be young, but we’re also going to be prepared.”

The Bulldogs will indeed be young this year, as evidenced in Holtville’s spring game with Southside-Selma. The Bulldog coaching staff started seven ninth-graders in the game, and they played admirably n considering the circumstances n according to McCluskie.

“The kids played hard, we didn’t make many mistakes and we didn’t have a single fumble,” he said. “Fumbles hurt us in a lot of games last year, and these guys know they have to cut back on those kinds of mistakes.”

As with most high school football teams, though, the summer has been about conditioning and weight training. With only a few days allowed for seven-on-seven camps and scrimmages, the Holtville coaching staff decided to dedicate the school break to improving strength and conditioning.

“We didn’t do any seven-on-sevens or anything like that,” McCluskie said. “We had one we wanted to go to, but three coaches had to be out of town at that time, so we just decided to stick with workouts.”

Some players did attend a camp at the University of North Alabama this summer, which McCluskie said helped them with their techniques and understanding of the game.

Holtville will depend on the team’s returning upperclassmen, such as Josh Law, to help mentor the younger guys.

During the team’s first official practice of the year Monday, which took place in shorts and without pads, Law was instrumental in agility drills. He was often asked to show the other players how to properly execute each drill, and he provided answers to each question his coaches asked him.

“Law is the only senior we have returning to the backfield,” McCluskie said. “We lost our whole line and everyone but him in the backfield.”

McCluskie isn’t complaining, however. For the first time in a few years, the Bulldogs have enough players to establish depth at each position, ensuring constant competition between teammates for playing time.

“When you have that extra depth, it makes guys really earn their jobs, and they’ll work harder to keep them,” he said.

Most of all, this summer the Bulldogs have put more emphasis on training. The coaches have become more involved in the offseason program, and younger players are learning the game more quickly.

“We feel good about what we’re doing,” McCluskie said. “We’re heading in the right direction.”

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