Bulldogs approach opener with more experience

By Sam Waller

The Moran Bulldogs football team enjoyed another solid outing last week in its second scrimmage.

The Bulldogs open the season at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26 at Benjamin.

The Bulldogs scrimmaged Lueders-Avoca on Thursday, Aug. 18 at Lueders.

“It went well, no injuries or problems,” Bulldogs coach John Hughes said. “We scored similar to the way we did in our first scrimmage, but this time we gave up three scores, all because of blown assignments on defense.”

Hughes said the Bulldogs showed noticeable progress from their first preseason outing.

“There was a lot of improvement from the first week to the second week,” he said. “The kids are doing well so far.”

Connor Hail, Caleb York, and Tyler Waddell all scored touchdowns with quarterback Ellis Hise throwing a few  TD passes.

Defensively, Hughes said, all eight Moran players made an impact.

“All of them contributed on defense,” he said.

With the season opener looming, Hughes said this week’s practices focused on facets the team did not use during the scrimmages.

“The one thing we worked on hard Monday was the kicking game,” he said.

Hughes said Hail and Cotten Campbell have both been working to replace graduate Arren Hawley, who handled all kicking duties last year.

“Three or four games into the season, we’ll have it figured out,” Hughes said. “We’re not going to be able to bang it out of the end zone every time like we did last year. With Arren, I could kick it deep every time and not have to worry about anything.”

Stiff Test

The Bulldogs face perhaps their biggest challenge of the season right off the bat in Benjamin, which comes in ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 1A Division II.

“All summer long, we’ve heard ‘Benjamin this’ and ‘Benjamin that’ and we’re tired of hearing about it,” Hughes said. “We know they’re No. 1, and we know they’re going to be good, but the guys aren’t scared of them. We feel like we can go up there and compete with them.”

Bolstering the coach’s confidence is the fact that six of his eight players return from last year, most of them forced to play every down both ways.

“We’ve got some older guys playing,” Hughes said. “We have a little bit more experience. We’re a lot more prepared than we were last year.”

Hughes said his players are approaching the game with the proper mindset.

“We know what we’re facing, but we’re looking at it as just a game,” he said. “The main thing is to try to get better than we were.”