Sports

High school football hasn’t entered a season with so much doubt. Under normal conditions the month of August is consumed with football fever. Instead, year 2020 starts with lingering doubt due to the coronavirus. Eastern Ellis County’s Big 5 football teams will do their best to focus on their game while everything else may seem like a blur.

James Lockhart (6’2, 263) continues an uphill battle to make the final cut on the Pittsburgh Steelers roster this season.

Perhaps it is nostalgic or a fresh new look, but Ennis football this fall will return to the brush script look of the championship years under Head Coach Sam Harrell.

Since March or April the American order of life has been akin to a frog in a blender, and the odds of hearing a ribbit at the end seem unlikely. Especially in the sports world. While the professional ranks have yielded to the social concerns of some, colleges have trimmed to the bare minimum in hopes of having a fat-free menu of good sports.

Football, volleyball, cross country and tennis teams begin practicing on Monday, Aug. 3, with all but Ennis starting this week. The Lions, according to the UIL, cannot begin until Monday, Sept. 7. Athletes from Ennis may continue to workout as part of summer conditioning.

On Thursday Ferris announced an additional change to their 2020 fall football schedule. They would play host to Ft. Worth Castleberry on Friday, Sept. 4, which would have served as the Yellowjackets home debut. That was until the Fort Worth ISD reversed a previous decision, and Thursday evening Ferris said ixnay to the Castleberry deal while the ink was still wet and was still able to secure Benbrook for their Week Two opponent.

Coaching at Palmer has a strong family appeal, and since the arrival of athletic director and football coach Don Waddle, has seen that sport rise in its winning ways. The Bulldogs had never won a district title until he came to town (they now have two), and the Barkers are favored for another tailwaggin’ season.