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Hermleigh junior Bubba Digby (right) tried to power past junior Stetson Digby during a drill at the Cardinals’ Midnight Madness at Clarence Spieker Stadium Saturday. The Cardinals will travel to Trent for a scrimmage at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Excitement is at an all-time high for the Hermleigh Cardinal football program.
Many Hermleigh fans got out of bed to attend the Cardinals’ Midnight Madness Friday and cheered on as the Cardinals held their second padded practice of the day. Head coach Heath Gibson said the Cardinals’ two practices Friday left him pleased.
“I thought that the two practices we had today were the best we’ve had so far this year,” he said. “I think it took them a minute to get going, but once we went to the Oklahoma drill, they got more into it. And then it’s like ‘I want to jump out there and do this.’ It’s amazing, you throw a little competition out there and all of them want to be a part of it.”
Following warm-ups and the Oklahoma drill, the Cardinals ran live offensive plays, with Gibson getting looks at both his first team and second team offense. Junior Stetson Digby showed some powerful running and senior Devin Hildebrand and junior Bubba Digby threw the ball well, completing several long passes.
Gibson, back as the Cardinal head coach for the first time since 2014, said his players are still learning the playbook, but the young team is making progress.
“I try to make it real simple for them, but it’s just repetition,” he said. “They’re getting better. Kids have asked me to send the plays to them. They want to learn. They ask me to send them route trees and they are studying the plays. Once they get that down, it’s week-to-week trying to figure out your game-plan. They are starting to pick it up a little bit better.”
The Cardinals will be able to put that progress to the test when they travel to Trent for a scrimmage Saturday at 9 a.m. Gibson said he just wants to see his team compete at a high level.
“I just want us to dominate,” he said.
“As a coach, you want to go out and play your best football and you want to dominate. Is it going to happen? I don’t know, because it’s the first time they’ll hit somebody in a different colored jersey. You want to go out and play good fundamentals and all those other things you want to do in a game. I think that we can use it as a learning tool. We can get that first one under our belt and then we have something to start working on.”