Friday night fever heating up

Brush Country Football, Volleyball and Cross Country teams began practice on Monday, August 6th. (left photo) Members of the Pleasanton Eagles go through drills during their first day of practice. (right photo) Members of the Poteet Agate Volleyball squad go through wall-jump drills during their workout. Scrimmages begin this weekend for area volleyball squads.ERIC SMITH | PLEASANTON EXPRESSJust as the Eagle Ford shale is booming across South Texas, so are football practice fields across the state. What used to be known as “two-a-day workouts” began this past Monday and all four Brush Country Schools had great turnouts on their first day. Despite a few changes to UIL regulations when it comes to guidelines for the workouts, all four coaches were very upbeat with how workouts went.

Pleasanton Eagles- Pleasanton Head Football Coach Tab Dumont and staff greeted 115 athletes on day one at the Pleasanton Practice Field. The day began with a very upbeat, yet heart felt message from Dumont aimed at turning around the Eagle Football program which has been in what have considered a slight slump over the past few seasons. With the majority of the offensive starters back this season, Dumont relayed to his athletes that success is possible and that it had to start with hard work and dedication. At the end of the 15-minute speech, it was obvious that 2-8 was not acceptable. When the speech was over, it was a consensus that the coaching staff and athletes were not happy with where they had been, and the focus would be bringing back the success of old.

“We are expecting a few more young kids to come out. All of the kids that we were counting on to show up for varsity showed up and all were fun to work with. It was a good first day, but we have a lot of work to do. Attitude of all of the kids was great. We will know a lot more about this team by the end of the next few weeks. Some of the seniors stated to me that this was the best first day they had ever had in Pleasanton,” stated Coach Tab Dumont.

Poteet Aggies- The Aggies are geared toward turning around their football program, which is coming off a 0-10 season a year ago. New head Coach Henry Willis and staff welcomed in 90 athletes on their first day of workouts. When the Express Sports team stopped by Aggie workouts, Poteet was hard at work in the weight room going through conditioning drills as well as classroom lectures on game plans.

“We had a great day of work. You can tell that we had a good summer conditioning and weights. The seniors are really stepping up and are leading the way for us. I am excited and I think things are starting to fall in place,” stated Coach Willis.

Jourdanton Indians- The most successful program from a year ago was hard at work on Monday as they were going through their playbook. No time was wasted as Coach Wayne Johnson and staff, have a program that is already implemented and only needs to be touched up in a few areas with a number of new faces.

Over 80 Indians showed up for their workouts, which was a good size for a Class 2A squad compared to area numbers.

“We had about 80 enthusiastic players show up. We are in fair shape and are ready for another great season,” stated Wayne Johnson.

Charlotte Trojans go through extensive weight lifting workouts.MARISSA VALDEZ | PLEASANTON EXPRESSCharlotte Trojans- Quality over quantity. This is something that first year Head Coach Jerry Dominguez feels is of importance, when talking about beginning workouts for Trojan Football. About 30 Trojans showed up for the first day, which was a good starting point for this football program.

“We are expecting about 5-10 more to come out. The kids that did show up worked hard and had a great attitude as well as a good day of practice. What we are concentrating on this year is not necessarily long drawn out practices, but one long one day in which kids give max effort. I want quality over quantity,” stated Coach Dominguez.

Strapping on the pads- This week, athletes workouts out in their workout clothes and helmets. On Friday, area schools across the state will strap on their pads and get down and dirty as scrimmage action is right around the corner.

Next week, we will have scrimmage previews for you as Pleasanton, Jourdanton, Poteet and Charlotte are geared for the 2012-2013 season. Brush Country Football has arrived and these athletes are hoping you will be behind them this season.