Stadium lights shine bright over Grim Park, crowds roar and anticipation radiates from both sides of the field. This next game, which carries on the Texas vs. Arkansas rivalry, remains long-awaited among community members. The Tigers spend the entire week getting ready for another victory after defeating the Bulldogs the previous season.
Athletic director and head football coach Gerry Stanford emphasises improvement in confidence, strategy, and consistency throughout practice to defeat the opposing team.
“I don’t know if we expect anything different from them,” Stanford said. “Obviously, there are things we want to do a better job of this Friday than we did last Friday, but most of that’s going to be a Monday through Thursday [thing].”
Maintaining consistency plays a pivotal role in achieving success in competition. While last-minute efforts can be beneficial, the primary emphasis remains on steady, ongoing regularity.
“Offensively, it’s really pretty simple,” Stanford said. “The goal is to get first downs and score.”
The team often finds itself in lengthy yardage situations early in the game. These situations may result from penalties, bad snaps, or various other circumstances. Besides these negatives on offense, the defense played exceptionally.
“It just takes one play to give up a big play,” Stanford said. “ I think it’s a level of focus and effort you’re practicing. Sometimes the smaller you can make it, the more you can focus on the [little] things that hopefully equal success.”
“Practice makes perfect” best describes this week’s preparation, and remains the only thing capable of bringing success to the team.
“Anytime after a loss, you really focus back to the fundamentals with the offensive line,” offensive line coach Allen Cross said. “[Focusing on] what we can do, what we did right in the last game, how we build on that to be more efficient with our plays and how we block everybody for the run plays coming up this week [is the goal].”
The Bulldog’s defense remains top of the line and arguably complex. Starting early this week, the Tigers plan to practice weaknesses and throw the ball more. The more they practice, the better prepared they will be.
“[We’re] just trying to simplify everything to get our kid’s confidence [back], Cross said. “[We’re] trying to simplify it through practice and [getting] more repetitions so that they do better in the game.”
A different approach becomes the main difference the Tigers want to see. Fayetteville will not be easy to defeat, and everyone on the team serves a purpose.
“We’re expecting better defensive [and] offensive plays,” senior offensive player Damien Chisum said. “We’re [also] expecting bigger players on [the offensive] side of the ball to make better plays, [so] we just got to contain [them].
Bigger players and better plays are expected on both sides of the ball. With multiple eyes on the quarterback, Chisum plans to keep his eyes forward, focusing on the offensive line.
“I’m gonna keep my eyes up,” Chisum said. “They have a linebacker that is really good at filling gaps fast, reading the blocks and really paying attention to the quarterback’s eyes and what he’s looking at.
With the annual Bacon Fry, held Friday, Sep. 19, Texas High prepares to pump up the Tigers and give them as much confidence as possible. Coming out in all black, the Tigers plan to give it their all.
“I’m really looking forward to coming back from adversity,” Chisum said. “I’m [also] really just trying to see how we respond.”
