By Nick Nunn
Staff Writer

The Morgan County High School Varsity Football team is getting ready to kick off its 2012 season with a home game against the Monticello Hurricanes this Friday.

The Bulldogs’ regular season record last year was 8-2. The Dogs’ 2011 season came to an end after a loss to the Laney Wildcats during the first round of playoffs.

This week, the Bulldogs are hoping to start off another winning season with a victory against Monticello, whom they beat last year 16-0.

Although Monticello had a losing season last year (4-6), Head Coach Bill Malone says, “We get excited about playing Monticello. They play a very good game against us every year.”
After the pre-season scrimmage on Aug. 16 against the Jefferson High Dragons, Malone said the team needed to work on a few elements of their game before the regular season started. In particular, Malone wanted to work on improving his athletes’ level of conditioning so that they would be better able to endure the level of gameplay that the 8-AAA division will demand of them. After two more weeks of training, Malone proudly states that, “We’re definitely a better team from the scrimmage to right now, and I think we’ll see a bunch of improvement from the first game to the second game.”
“The first four games are extremely important,” Malone emphasized when discussing this year’s schedule.

After this week’s match-up with Monticello, the Bulldogs will be on the road for two weeks battling the Greene County Tigers and the Putnam County Eagles. In Putnam County, the Bulldogs will be looking to come back from last season’s loss against the Eagles.

The Dogs will return during the last week in September for their second home game, which will be against the Oconee County Warriors.

When asked what he expects of his players in the first game, Malone offered up an impressive piece of wisdom: “I want to see kids representing themselves, their team, and their community the way that they are supposed to represent themselves. And I feel that, if we can do that, then we are well on our way to being successful on the scoreboard.”

The season-opening game against the Monticello Hurricanes will kick off this Friday at Bill Corry Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

Printed in the August 30, 2012 edition