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Lions start practice in good shape

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By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions football program enters every season with high expectations. This year, the Lions have a target on their backs.

Albany is the preseason No. 1 team in Class 2A Division II as selected by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine after reaching the state semifinals in 2021. It is a distinction Lions head coach Denney Faith refuses to worry about.

“All the magazines and stuff in August is strictly for the fans,” Faith said. “Our kids come in with the expectation of playing for a state championship every year. It doesn’t matter if we’re ranked No. 1 or No. 50, our expectation is to play 16 games.”

Faith said the preseason ranking won’t affect how the program goes about preparing for the 2022 season “one way or the other.”

“We’re going to work hard, practice hard, and give it everything we’ve got,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where they rank us.”

The only expectations the players are trying to live up to are their own.

“We’ve got pretty high expectations coming off last year,” senior Coy Lefevre said. “We made it pretty far. For us seniors, the goal is to make it where we did last year and hopefully further and not leave it short.”

The Lions began preseason workouts Monday, Aug. 1, with 42 players reporting.

“That’s a few less than we had last year, but a few more than we had a couple of years ago,” Faith said. “We’ll probably suit up 20 or 21 on varsity and 20 or 21 on JV.”

Faith said the numbers were cut back slightly with two players moving out of the district, while junior Houston Heatly is expected to miss the season with a knee injury.

Faith said there will be some players changing positions this year, with everyone learning to play multiple spots.

“We talked in our meeting about being unselfish,” he said. “Let’s put the best football team together no matter what position you’re at.”

Faith said the opening practice gave the program a starting point from which to build.

“We found out where everybody was conditioning-wise,” he said. “During this acclimation period, we’re trying to get people to where we can get them in shape and see what they can do. A lot of them have been working this summer and came in good shape and did fine, but we’ve got to get them all there.”

After spending the first week in shorts and helmets, the Lions will begin full-pad workouts Monday, Aug. 8 in preparation for their first scrimmage against Coleman on Friday, Aug. 12, at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.

“We want to get used to the heat, get used to being out here in it,” Faith said. “I expect everybody to be sore this week, because we’re going to challenge them physically.”

Faith said there’s a lot of work to be done before the start of contact.

“The main thing we’re doing this week is making sure we’ll be able to put on pads next week without much transition,” he said.

After seeing Coleman, the Lions will scrimmage Early on Thursday, Aug. 18 at home.

The regular season will begin at home Friday, Aug. 26 against Lubbock Trinity Christian. Albany opens district play Oct. 7 at Miles.