HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PRACTICE IS UNDERWAY
High School football practice is officially underway. The Class 6A defending state champion Cleveland Storm was one of over 100 teams in the state taking the field for the first day of practice Monday morning. “It’s exciting, we’ve been wanting it all season, all the way through January, with morning lifts, we’ve been grinding for it, the energy is all there,” said senior defensive end Elijah Richards.
The Storm will be considered one of the favorites this season with several key returners, including senior quarterback Jordan Hatch. “You saw him really take a step last year,” said Storm head coach Robert Garza. “He started for us as a sophomore, and still seeing those gains, those jumps he made up to this point, we are excited to see what’s going to happen with him this year.”
“I think we can expect a state championship to come back, that’s what we’re always going for,” said Hatch.
“Our O-line, they’re all physical,” described senior tackle Moses Sparks. “We have our center who is a returning starter, both tackles are returning starters, they’re putting the work in, we’re physical.”
Cleveland has played in each of the last six state championship games. The expectations are high for another finals appearance. “What we got going on works and these guys buy in and trust what we’re doing,” said Garza. “When we get to this time of year they start to see ‘Maybe they do know what they’re talking about.’”
“We got a lot of guys coming back, we really just want to win a state championship again and continue the tradition for all the seniors and make it a special season,” said Richards.
You’ll notice at practice this year, a majority of the Cleveland players wear Guardian Caps, the soft shell covers on top of helmets that provide extra cushioning and enhanced safety for head to head contact. “We experimented with them last season, bought about 30 or 40 of them and it was incredible,” said the head coach. “We didn’t have concussion issues, we didn’t have guys going down. I’m a big believer in them, so we went out and bought 40 more. Slowly, we are trying to get our whole program into them.”
“They help us out with concussions and head protection a bunch,” said Richards. “We didn’t have any concussions this past season, compared to other seasons, they help tremendously.”
This Cleveland squad will open the season Saturday August 23rd in Las Cruces against Centennial.
