Varsity Spring Practice Kicks Off Saturday
by Dwight Turner
The Ardmore High School Varsity Football Team will formally kick off its 2007 spring practice Saturday, May 5. The Tigers, coming off a successful 8-3 season under first-year Head Coach Tracy Malone, are eagerly anticipating getting back into action on the gridiron and preparing for another exciting season.
According to Malone, the Tigers will have two practice sessions Saturday morning and will then practice daily after school during the following two weeks.
“On Saturday we are going to hit the field at 7 AM and practice for about an hour and a half,” said Malone. “After having breakfast and a talk, the players will go back out until at least 11 AM.”
Although Malone is optimistic about the Tigers’ chances in 2007, he is candid about holes that need to be filled due to graduation.
“We need to fill some slots on the offensive line,” said Malone. “We lost four players and we need to take a close look at who can step in and take over. We should be strong in the backfield as we have most of our starters returning this season. On defense, we need to find out just who our best players are. We have holes especially in the secondary. We lost two cornerbacks and our safeties to graduation.”
Malone went on to say that getting the players ready for high expectations would be one of the goals of spring practice.
“This will be a year of expectations,” said Malone. “We will be talking to the kids about taking that next step. Our motto this season is ‘What’s next?’.”
The Black and Gold game is tentatively set for May 18.