The freshman football team has made a small rebound since their opening loss against Arkansas High. Their second game ended with a win against Kilgore. The team hopes to put the 0-26 loss against the Razorbacks behind them and focus on the positives from the 28-0 victory over Kilgore.

“Every team will have bad games,” freshman quarterback Kip Williams said. “Our first one happened to be against Arkansas. But we bounced back for the second game.”

The game against Arkansas, in which the Tigers were scoreless, was capitalized by numerous Tiger mistakes. Some players, however, attribute the loss to the poor playing conditions.

“It was the weather,” freshman right tackle James Murphy said. “It was raining. We weren’t used to it. The turf felt like concrete.”

Murphy also believes that the victory against Kilgore was due, in large part, to the great football atmosphere.

“It was definitely the weather,” Murphy said. “The turf wasn’t hard. It was amazing weather to play in.”

Williams, on the other hand, attributes the win to a new dedication to practice and better attitudes during workouts.

“We all got more serious,” Williams said. “We stayed calm. We didn’t panic or freak out during practice.”

After a good week of practice, the team was more prepared physically and mentally for the Kilgore game. They hope to keep this new strategy as the season goes on. Their next game is at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20 in Tiger Stadium against Tyler Lee.

“We were more relaxed,” Williams said. “We got a better understanding of what we were doing. We were back to our normal selves. We are ready to go back to winning as usual.”