Strong coach Jason Porter had 21 senior high athletes report for football practice on Monday. The Bulldogs have been going through off-season workouts for the past two weeks.
Porter said the team had an indoor workout before going on the field for agility drills and pass skeleton. Most of the offense and defense have already been installed.
“Everything that we did last year, we haven’t really added anything. We have everything in that we’re going to do. We’ll add some things for each team but we’ve got everything in that we’re going to be using,” said Porter, who said that’s an advantage in the preseason.
“It just allows us to focus more on fine tuning what we want to do best. The senior high bunch especially, we have a senior-ladened group so we kind of know what we want to do. We’re just fine-tuning some of the blocking schemes and getting my back-up quarterback a little work. He’s a 10th grader so we’re getting him some work in.”
Strong, which plays 8-man, had trouble finding early-season games. The Bulldogs don’t open the season until Sept. 27 against Dermott.
“I’d like to play in September more but, you know what, that month is brutal. It’s still really hot and every year we’ve lost one or two players. At this level, 8-man, you can’t afford to lose anybody,” said Porter, who added he won’t have any contact until a couple weeks before the season starts.
Strong will practice Monday through Thursday with offense the focus on Monday and Wednesday and defense on Tuesday and Thursday.
One box that will have to be checked, said Porter, will be conditioning.
“I’ve got to get them in a lot better shape. The advantage we have with a later schedule is we have more time to do it. We’re right where we normally are. I guess that’s a good thing. I know these kids. I know where we’re at and I feel O.K. with them,” said Porter, who liked his team’s attitude.
“With what happened last year, they’re really more business-like. They’ve got one thing on their mind.”
Porter had 18 athletes show up for the junior high team. He expects a few more to report once school begins.
“I’m just happy with the enthusiasm. Everybody showed up and was ready to work.”