Holtville traveled to Tallassee last Tuesday morning for a taste of competition, as the Tigers hosted a 7-on-7 tournament with teams from all around Central Alabama.
After the tournament, coach Cory Lee was overall happy with his team’s performance, citing the secondary as having major improvements in being able to adjust and adapt to covering routes they hadn’t seen before.
“We were up and down,” Lee said. “I think we came out slow against Southside (Selma). But after that game, I really challenged our guys. I told them, ‘we can’t come out slow, we can’t just relax.’”
One of the main focuses of this Holtville team this summer is to improve every day they can and be prepared to compete at a high level once the season starts. These tournaments allow more inexperienced players to get repetitions on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball, helping them really start to understand what the Friday night lights will feel like.
As the summer has progressed, Lee has been able to spot the specific players that he will rely on to make big plays and lead the team.
“We’re not just trying to play,” Lee said. “There’s got to be something about our approach that we take seriously. As far as playing, I think we had a lot of guys make plays, guys who we feel like we’re going to be able to lean on and trust in big moments.”
Some of those guys are senior quarterback Jacob Burgess, sophomore running back Jay Lucas and junior safety Reily Knight.
Knight, for one, had a handful of interceptions throughout the day and will definitely be one to watch this coming season.
“We have a lot of guys playing really well and making plays at different points throughout the day,” Lee said. “But those guys (Burgess, Lucas and Knight) really stand out in my mind, and those are guys that we know we’re going to be able to lean on, I’m going to have to lean on as the season goes on in the fall.”
With new faces emerging as leaders for the Bulldogs, this season will be interesting and exciting as these players fight to make names for themselves.
