After the inaugural football kick-off last Saturday, Aug. 17, the Texas High Tigers have their annual beginning-of-season scrimmage with Longview, the difference this year being that the Longview Lobos are now in the 6A division, meaning that Longview High School expanded as a whole. This could present a challenge for the Tigers.
The Tigers have big shoes to fill after the previous year’s district win, even more so now that they compete against larger schools.
“It’s a challenge every year,” athletic director and head football coach Gerry Stanford said. “It’s something we look forward to and Longveiw looks forward to.”
This yearly game has become somewhat of a tradition for the Tigers and Lobos, leaving expectations for what’s to come out of the game.
“It’s always kind of a good barometer of where we are,” Stanford said. “We go into this and we come out of it feeling a certain way, good or bad, and I think we can find positives in all of them.”
Many components make the football team one of the best in the district.
“Scoring defense is usually head of the curb this time of year,” Stanford said. “I expect our guys that have played for a while, that have started for two or three years now, to play well.”
The Tigers have proved previously over the years that they play as a unit in the game of football.
“From a team standpoint it’s just about building chemistry,” Stanford said. “How do we match up together? What’s the chemistry with our defense? What’s the chemistry with our offense? Do we have the right pieces to the puzzle in the right spots? Then if we don’t we can make some moves there.”
