The football team will play its fifth district game against Coppell on Oct. 20 at Brian Brazil Stadium at 7:00 p.m.
“We need to do what we’ve been doing,” head coach John Towels said. “We play great defense, great special teams and great offense. When everything is working, when our kids are focused, they’re giving effort and they’re executing. It’s amazing what they’re capable of doing. We just have to be consistent.”
Currently, Coppell is first in the district with a record of 4-0, and an overall record of 6-0. They were forced to forfeit one game to Timber Creek due to bad weather canceling the game.
“Chemistry and believing that you can do it are [important for a successful team],” quarterback Patrick Crayton Jr. said. “Coppell’s a big opponent; a lot of people aren’t going to believe that we can go out there and win that game. But, as long as we believe it, we know we can.”
Towels said the team has been focusing on the current game at hand, and not on what happens next. During practices, the team has been primarily focusing on executing and handling schemes to limit mistakes in real games.
“[The team is] growing,” Towels said. “Their focus is starting to get better, their practice habits are improving [and] everything is [overall] improving. The good thing is we haven’t played our best football yet, and we’re improving every week. If we get to the point where we’re playing our best football within these next two weeks and going into the playoffs, that’s what [we] want to be doing.”
The last time the Hawks managed to defeat Coppell was in 2021, with a score of 34-12. Last season, the team lost 43-35.
“As a team aspect, I can always bet there’s stuff to learn,” Crayton said. “We’ve been playing really good. We’ve been getting wins since Marcus. That was a rough start to districts, but we’ve learned from it and come back from it.”
Last week, the team lost to Flower Mound due to a jaguar touchdown in the final five minutes which was enough to give Flower Mound a 21-14 win. As a result, the team is going into this upcoming game with a district record of 2-2, placing them fourth in the district.
“Binding with one another [helps in stressful situations,]” outside linebacker Luke Sharp said. “[Once] all of our hard work throughout the week [is] out on the field, [then] we end up doing pretty alright.”
With games such as Coppell and second-place Lewisville in the upcoming weeks, wide receiver Sheldon Armour said he always remembers before every game that he has to put on a show for God and his late friend JJ Hatcher, who passed away last December.
“Don’t back down [and] keep fighting,” Armour said. “You have to believe; if we’re in a tough situation, we have to keep believing and we [have to] put work into what we [need] to do.”
