Moran athletes start workouts
By Sam Waller
Moran High School athletes began preseason workouts for football, volleyball, and cross country this week.
Football began Monday morning before shifting to afternoon practices the rest of the week.
Bulldogs coach John Hughes had expected 10 or more players at the start, but those hopes were dashed.
“I thought we weren’t going to have to deal with the numbers issue, but right now we are,” Hughes said. “On Monday and Tuesday, I had seven out here.”
Hughes said he still expects one or two more athletes to come out once school starts next week.
“We’re going to end up with eight or nine by the time it’s all said and done,” he said.
Low numbers played a major role in the Bulldogs going 0-10 last year. Injuries forced Moran to forfeit its last game.
What the team lacks in depth, it makes up for with experience. Moran returns seniors Caleb York and Zech Henderson, juniors Ellis Hise and Cotten Campbell, and sophomore Ethan Boykin. Sophomore Max Oliver practiced with the team all season, but was not eligible for varsity last year.
“We’re going to brush up and refresh memories, but everybody’s coming back and knows what’s going on,” Hughes said, adding that the situation allows the Bulldogs to focus on conditioning during the first week. “A lot of these guys had jobs over the summer, but there’s a big difference in working outside during the summer and putting on shoulder pads in hot weather and going through practice.”
With that in mind, the Bulldogs started their first workout with a mile run.
Moran will scrimmage at Trent on Friday, Aug. 10, then host a four-team scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 18. The Bulldogs open the season Friday, Aug. 25 by hosting Lohn.
Midnight Madness
Following Meet the Bulldogs on Friday night, the team will conduct a Midnight Madness workout in full pads at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 5.
“The last couple of years I’ve done this, we’ve had a pretty good turnout of people coming to watch,” Hughes said.
Volleyball
The Lady Bulldogs hit the court for the first time Tuesday afternoon with coach Jo Hise expecting up to eight players.
The Lady Bulldogs will participate in a five team scrimmage Saturday at Munday with Rotan, Abilene TLCA, and Woodson also attending.
The season opener will be Tuesday, Aug. 8 at Rotan, then Moran will play in the Benjamin tournament Friday-Saturday, Aug. 11-12.
Cross Country
The same girls on the volleyball team are also going through 7:00 a.m. cross country workouts.
Moran is entered in meets Wednesday, Sept. 20 at Merkel and Thursday, Sept. 28 at Rotan. The district meet will be in October at Eula.
