5 local teams set to start their season
This time a week ago, most area high school football teams were preparing for their first game.
Enthusiasm and tensions were on the rise as the first official kickoff of the season approached.
But while all those teams were enjoying Week 1 of the season, five local teams – Crockett County, Hardin County, Haywood, Huntingdon and Lexington – experienced one extra week of preseason.
Their bye weeks were Week 1, which means when their seasons start this weekend, there will be no off week without a game until their seasons are complete.
Scheduling problems caused them to have their off week before their seasons begin as all of the teams except Huntingdon are in Region 7-4A with nine teams, which means they have eight region games and two non-region games to schedule. It was hard for nearly half the league to get a week to match up with potential opponents.
Huntingdon had a similar problem despite being in a smaller region.
Coaches have differing opinion on whether or not to have a bye week in the middle of the season.
It’s always good to have a chance to let injured players heal, but there can be problems with having a week without a game.
“You get into a weekly routine,” said Huntingdon head coach Eric Swenson. “Practice on Monday, practice on Tuesday, practice on Wednesday, walk-through on Thursday and play on Friday and the kids get used to it.
“Then all the sudden you don’t have a game on Friday, and it changes your entire schedule for the week and it throws the kids off.”
Swenson said it could have an effect on more than just one game.
“I’ve seen seasons change because of a bye week,” Swenson said. “A team is rolling through the season week after week and hitting its stride, and then there’s no game.
“Then the kids need to push themselves or be pushed back into the grind of the season, and some groups of kids are easier to push back into that grind than others.”
Hardin County’s Matt Smith has a different opinion this year than he did this time last year.
“Last year we had an older team that was set and ready to go, and I was ready for us to go ahead and get going and have a week to rest there in the middle,” Smith said. “This year we’re a little younger, so I feel like we need this extra week to prepare.
“I’m OK with waiting this week to play.”
All five teams last year opened their seasons with a victory, and four of the five made the playoffs. The one that didn’t – Crockett County – missed the playoffs by one game.
Brandon Shields, 425-9751