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It's football time on the south side of Abilene.
Hugh Sandifer leading his team on to the field for the 32nd season in a row, and the Bulldogs are coming off a trip to the state championship game for the fourth time in school history. There are a couple of ways for teams to handle a trip to state the year before. Treat this like a brand new year and forget last season, or remember what it took to get there.
Coach Sandifer said, "It's 2017. This is an new team. We don't compare teams. We don't live in the past. Hopefully, our kids are mature enough to understand what it took to get there last year, but as far as us talking about that and dwelling on it, we enjoyed it, but that's a long time ago. It's time to get going again this year."
The Bulldogs enter 2017 with five starters back on the defensive side of the ball, which if you know Wylie history, that's a pretty high number. Each of line of defense, the line, linebackers, and secondary, have at least one returner. It's a great foundation heading into the new year.
Sandifer added, "Having some guys back, especially on defense, five guys that saw considerable playing time and played all year, that really helps. Get things going and give a little stability to that side of the ball and put us ahead of the curve a little bit there."
Offensively, only a pair of starters are back from last year's team that scored more points than any team in history. That's not many, but there are plenty of players back that got some time on the field in 2016.
Sandifer said, "It's not like we are putting sophomores out there on the field. We're putting juniors and seniors on the field, and hopefully, that extended period of play; if you look at it, we've had 31 weeks of football the last two years, sixteen weeks last year and fifteen weeks the year before. These seniors, since their sophomore year, have had eleven extra weeks of football. Hopefully, they are more than seniors. They are entering their fifth year of football, so hopefully that pays dividends."
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Hugh Sandifer leading his team on to the field for the 32nd season in a row, and the Bulldogs are coming off a trip to the state championship game for the fourth time in school history. There are a couple of ways for teams to handle a trip to state the year before. Treat this like a brand new year and forget last season, or remember what it took to get there.
Coach Sandifer said, "It's 2017. This is an new team. We don't compare teams. We don't live in the past. Hopefully, our kids are mature enough to understand what it took to get there last year, but as far as us talking about that and dwelling on it, we enjoyed it, but that's a long time ago. It's time to get going again this year."
The Bulldogs enter 2017 with five starters back on the defensive side of the ball, which if you know Wylie history, that's a pretty high number. Each of line of defense, the line, linebackers, and secondary, have at least one returner. It's a great foundation heading into the new year.
Sandifer added, "Having some guys back, especially on defense, five guys that saw considerable playing time and played all year, that really helps. Get things going and give a little stability to that side of the ball and put us ahead of the curve a little bit there."
Offensively, only a pair of starters are back from last year's team that scored more points than any team in history. That's not many, but there are plenty of players back that got some time on the field in 2016.
Sandifer said, "It's not like we are putting sophomores out there on the field. We're putting juniors and seniors on the field, and hopefully, that extended period of play; if you look at it, we've had 31 weeks of football the last two years, sixteen weeks last year and fifteen weeks the year before. These seniors, since their sophomore year, have had eleven extra weeks of football. Hopefully, they are more than seniors. They are entering their fifth year of football, so hopefully that pays dividends."
More...