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SDN Photo/Larry McCarty Snyder’s Logan Greene passes the football during Thursday’s practice at Tiger Stadium. -
SDN Photo/Larry McCarty Snyder’s Eric Rinehart gets in position to catch a pass. The Tigers are scheduled to practice in pads today for the first time.
Hermleigh and Ira players put the pads on for the first time at midnight madness practices early today while Snyder is scheduled to practice in pads at 4 p.m. today.
The Cardinals and Bulldogs started at 12:01 a.m. and practiced for two hours.
“Midnight madness was exciting for players and coaches,” Hermleigh head coach Sam Winters said. “Once players put on the pads, the coaches can see different things and find out how they respond. We worked on fundamentals and ended it with a short scrimmage.”
Ira head coach Toby Goodwin said midnight madness is an annual celebration for fans, but he treats it like a practice.
“It was like a gloried practice,” Goodwin said. “I’m excited the community got involved. They liked coming out and watching us practice at midnight.”
Snyder head coach Cory Mandrell, who is excited about his team’s first practice in pads, gave the players high grades for the first four days.
“This was the best four days for a team that I coached in a long time,” Mandrell said. “We had one of our best practices on the first day. The players are excited and had a great attitude. I thought it would be tough to top it on the second day, but they did. The same thing happened Wednesday and Thursday. They improved tremendously as players from last year.”
Winters said players performed well during the first week and he expects that will continue next week.
“We have had good practices,” Winters said. “The players learned and did the right things. I’m grateful how willing they will do something new and do it to perfection. We have young players who know it’s their turn. They are doing that and becoming leaders. That’s good to see.”
Goodwin liked how his players responded during the first week.
“The players are having fun and glad to be back in the swing of things,” Goodwin said. “They are picking up the new things quickly. We won’t change anything, just add to what we have done in the past.”
Mandrell said today’s practice will allow the coaches to learn more about the players.
“Players and coaches always look forward to the first day in pads,” Mandrell said. “We will continue to stress what we did for the last four days. They will line up against someone else across from them, giving coaches a better idea of what they can do. It will be more physical.”
Mandrell said the Tigers will practice from 9 a.m to noon Saturday, and which will include a short scrimmage. Hermleigh and Ira will resume practice Monday.
All three teams will scrimmage on Aug. 18.