The football team will begin their season on Aug. 30 against Plano Senior High School at the HHS stadium starting at 7:00 pm.

“After a scrimmage, you find out a lot about where your team is because really all we’ve done since last season is practice against ourselves during preseason,” head coach Brian Brazil said. “We will be very well prepared going in, but Plano will be too.”

After competing in a scrimmage on August 22 against Allen, the team is now in the final stretch before the season begins. Team captain and running back Franklin Estrada said the scrimmage will help the team be more prepared to go against Plano this Friday.

“I think now that we have a taste of going against someone else, we can finally be as physical as we want and we can actually show the discipline that we have been putting into the offseason,” Estrada said. “Going against each other can only get you so far. I think this competition will boost us and get us ready for the first game.”

Throughout the offseason Brazil has put emphasis on the “little details” such as showing up to practice on time and staying focused on the game, which he hopes will help them control their performance.

“We talked about a formula called the event plus your response equals the outcome,” Brazil said. “You never know what the event is going to be – sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad – but we always want to have the right response so we get the desired outcome.”

To prepare for the season, players have been attending practice starting at 6:00 a.m. Defensive end and captain Jeremiah Simon said that due to the intense schedule, it is difficult to maintain a life outside of football.

“Football players put in a lot of work – we’re here for a long time,” Simon said. “During practice, we go through drills to prepare us for the game and it makes game situations way easier because you don’t have to think as much.” 

Estrada said the dynamic of their team has shifted to being a much closer group, likely due to the majority of the players being seniors this year. 

“Last year we were close, but we had a lot of cliques on the team,” Estrada said. “Now I think that most of us are seniors, and it’s our last season and we can really come together and be cohesive.”

Brazil said he is confident in the competitiveness and spirit of the team, but the biggest obstacle would be to brush off the things they can’t control. 

“Our biggest goal is for our team to represent with class – we want them to represent with discipline and want them to play tough and be a tough team to beat,” Brazil said. “Our motto says ‘Bring the Wood: ’play hard, play tough, and play physical. Those are the three things that we want to accomplish this year.”