First year Watonga head football coach Clint Benway knows he is facing what could be a tough season.
“We are still getting the basics, the fundamentals,” Benway said. “Once we get good at those, everything else comes easy.”
The team is young, with only three seniors to lead it. There are multiple returning players, though, and those younger team members will reinforce what the seniors hand down.
One of the best things coming into the season, Benway said, is the numbers. There are 47 players on the roster. New lockers had to be added to the dressing room and more is better.
“I like the numbers,” Benway said after Saturday practice. “There is power in numbers, at least in football.”
The first test for the numbers will come Thursday night at the 6 p.m. scrimmage against each Fairview and Kingfisher.
“Fairview is an established program,” Benway acknowledged. “They have won multiple state titles. They are physical and very well coached. It’s the same thing with Kingfisher. It’s a physical ball club that will challenge us physically.”
The Eagles don’t have that reputation to draw on as an established physical team, but Benway can’t fault the moxy his players have displayed during preseason training and practices.
He pointed out that most of the players were at a 7 a.m. practice on a hot Saturday in August. The weight-lifting opportunities were utilized and there was very little, if any complaining.
It isn’t all about football, he claims.
“The better relationship you have with the kids, the better you can coach them. It becomes based on relationships and they learn life skills,” he explained.
The Watonga football regular season will kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday, August 23 against Thomas-Fay-Custer at home. The game will feature the raffle drawing for two beef halves, a fundraiser for the sports booster club.