Noxapater football coach Casey Orr said after the 2017 football season was over, he met with his coaches and players and talked about what needed to be done before the 2018 season.
The one thing that kept on coming up was that the Tigers needed to be mentally stronger.
“I thought our mental toughness was the one thing that hurt us last year because we weren’t able to be very multiple because we didn’t know our assignments,” Orr said. “It seemed like as a whole, we were one assignment away from making a big play. It was never one guy or one particular thing. It was always something different or a different guy. It was never something you could put your finger on. That’s the thing, a lot of guys, when it was all said and done, realized that we needed to get better mentally, be a mentally better football team, and that’s something we have gotten better at this spring.”
Orr said he is averaging about 25-30 players in practice.
“We will lose one here and there and pick one up here or there,” Orr said. “I’m not in the business of running people off. I think we will have a shot to win the district next year and maybe go compete for a state championship. But we are going to have to have some breaks. We are going to have to stay healthy because we don’t have a lot of depth. We don’t have a lot of numbers. But I think we have the talent to compete. I have played a lot of ninth and 10th graders the last couple of years. I’m excited for those kids to be juniors and seniors.”
Orr said the spring has been lively since baseball was eliminated quickly from the playoffs. And Orr said the Tigers have something else to play for this spring.
“I have been really pleased with the work ethic,” Orr said. “Spring is tough to get kids motivated. We do have a spring game this year, which the kids are excited about. That has helped fuel the first. I think we have gotten after it so far. There have been a lot of positive things.”
Orr said the Tigers will make the trip north to East Webster and will take on Class 3A South Pontotoc and traditional power Booneville on May 10.
It will be a challenge for us, that’s for sure,” Orr said. “Both of them were playoff teams last year. I don’t think they did us any favors with the schedule. But it will be a good test to see how far we have come. I’m looking forward to it.”
