Delayed season opener set Friday

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions fell victim to circumstances beyond their control last week when Friday’s season-opening football game at Colorado City was cancelled and ruled no contest.

Lions head coach Denney Faith said the game was called off less than 48 hours before kickoff because a coronavirus outbreak forced Colorado City to close school for at least a week and cancel all activities. Efforts to find a replacement opponent were unsuccessful.

The Lions will now open their season at 7:00 p.m. Friday at Dublin.

“I know it’s frustrating for our kids,” Faith said of the cancellation. “We ask a lot of them to get out here in the 100-degree heat and sacrifice and push, and then they don’t get the reward on Friday. It’s a difficult situation for them. Obviously, they want to play. That’s why they’re here.”

Faith said that despite missing the opportunity to test themselves under game conditions, there were some benefits that could help the Lions this week.

“We’ve had some kids injured, so that gives us a chance for some of them to heal up without having to play in a game,” he said. “But then again, we really needed that game, especially early in the season like this.”

He explained that once the schedule gets underway, conditioning takes up a shorter time during practices.

“As you get into your season, you stop conditioning as much during practice time and kind of play your way into shape,” he said. “We’re going to be a week behind as far as getting into game shape because we missed that game. That’s got me a little concerned right now.”

In 2020, the Lions had their fifth scheduled game against Anson wiped out because of COVID-19 issues. Albany was also awarded a forfeit victory in the bi-district playoff when Chico was forced to withdraw from the postseason.

“It’s a little different because last year against Anson was in the middle of the season,” Faith said. “We were four weeks into the season at that point. This year, we’re champing at the bit to get going and had it taken away from us. It’s pretty frustrating.”

Faith said that while the Lions are a week behind schedule, there is plenty of time to make up ground before the start of district play.

“We’ve still got five predistrict games because Ranger dropped out last year, so we’ll have several good games under our belt before we get into district,” he said. “It’s just that the first game of the season, you’re ready to go. Then on a Wednesday night, to have it taken away from you is tough to swallow.”

Faith said that the players worked hard last week and had good practices. 

“Our kids were excited and ready to go,” he said.

Facing Dublin

In taking on the green-and-gold Lions at 7:00 p.m. Friday at Bob and Norma Cervetto Field, Albany faces a team that defeated DeLeon 43-7 last week.

Quarterback Chris Teten passed for 310 yards and five touchdowns in the game, while Cooper Hubble caught four passes for 202 yards and three scores.

“They’re very athletic,” Faith said. “They’ve got a big, strong quarterback with a good arm and four capable receivers.”

He said that the Dublin team will probably remind spectators of Hawley. 

“One of the two ball carriers that they go to is a little scatback that’s slippery and can run,” Faith said. “The other is a big, 200-pound plus fullback type of kid who can run in between the tackles really hard.”

Faith said Dublin poses several challenges for Albany, which won last year’s meeting 64-27.

“We’ve got to make sure we can get some pressure on the quarterback and force him to make some quick decisions,” Faith said. “It’ll put some pressure on our secondary to make sure we cover some of their better kids.”

Faith said he’s looking for a better defensive performance than Albany had two weeks ago in its scrimmage against Hawley, during which the Bearcats hit several big pass plays.

“We stayed pretty vanilla and didn’t do a lot of different things coverage-wise against Hawley because it was a scrimmage, and we were trying to evaluate personnel.”

Obviously this week’s game will be different from the scrimmage. 

“We’ll have a few more stunts where we can try to pressure this quarterback,” Faith said.

Ticket information

Tickets for Friday’s game may be purchased online in advance or at the gate. All tickets will cost $4, and all seats will be general admission.

To buy tickets online, go to the Dublin ISD website at www.dublinisd.us, scroll down to the link for Dublin Lions Football vs. Albany and click on Get Tickets.