ODEM, Texas — It's a big day for many of our high school football teams.
And it’s also a day that some worried might not come at all.
Two-a-day preseason practices started across the Coastal Bend.
It was an exciting day for the Warriors at Tuloso-Midway High School and other teams in our area who play Class 4A football and below are finally back practicing.
Football practice started Monday in Odem, where the Owls like many other area football teams have had this day circled on their calendar for a long time..
But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no one really knew what to expect with the beginning of a new season....
There was lots of uncertainty for sure, but players are relieved to be back on the practice field.
“I was pretty worried,” Oden running back/defensive back Marcus Martinez said. “I love football, all of us love football out here and not having a football season would have been detrimental to our lives because some of us live for football and we live in the state of Texas where football is life.”
Odem linebacker/running back Dylan Tijerina agreed.
“There were a lot of people doubting that we would have a football season this year, but we kept our heads up and we wound up getting our football season,” Tijerina said.
But with a lack of a full spring and summer conditioning program here on campus, two-a-day workouts have a whole new meaning this year.
"I'm just glad they are all here,” Odem football coach Armando Huerta said. “We didn’t know what to expect as far as participation and I would say out of a 35-man roster we got 34 here so really happy about that. Now, we have to fix the football part, because you can tell they haven't done anything in a very long time.”
For the next two weeks, Huerta and his staff will be working on getting their team in shape before they play their only scrimmage. And then, they open their season at home on Friday Aug. 28 against Ingleside.
