When the final buzzer sounded in AT&T Stadium for last year’s season opener, the Tigers walked away with their first loss of the year against the Lone Star Rangers. This year, on their home turf, they’re hoping for a different outcome.

“Last year was last year,” Assistant Coach Astin Greer said. “We despise losing just as much as anyone else. We want to focus on executing four quarters against a state ranked team so we can set the tone for the remainder of our football season.”

The Tigers have spent countless hours working towards their home season opener. Since the true beginning of the season three weeks ago, the Tigers have had their mind set on this game.

“We’ve had a good three weeks of practice so far, we were excited about our Longview scrimmage,” Greer said. “We played hard and had a lot of bright spots from our younger guys as well as our veteran players.”

Going into the game, the Tigers are focused on executing every play and growing as a team. 

“Obviously, you want to go into a game with the expectation to win. Expecting to win isn’t enough though,” Greer said. “Our focus has been to drill the game plan into the minds of the players so they can go out and execute it each play.”

Win or lose, the goal of this game is to come out stronger as a team, while still letting everyone settle into the feel of those big games.

“The goal for this game is to let our players grow up fast,” Greer said. “We know it’s the only game in town and everybody from across the city will pack into Grim.”