Bulldogs football set to start new season

After barely missing the postseason last year with a record of 5-4, the Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs football team is getting ready for the upcoming season. The Bulldogs have a scrimmage at Mason City on Aug. 23. At 7 p.m. and their first game is on Aug. 30. at home vs Iowa Falls-Alden at 7 p.m. Head coach Cole Miller said that the team lost a large senior class so a goal for this year is to get as much experience as possible.

“We are going to have a lot of people getting used to playing at the varsity level,” Miller said. “So getting those guys some experience and helping them learn to compete at that level will be a huge goal of ours. We want to put ourselves in a position to compete every week and hopefully by the end of the game put ourselves in a position to have a shot to win the ball game.”

With having a more inexperienced team Miller said that they are going back to the basics and making sure they build a solid foundation.

“Take things a little bit slower but when things start to gain some traction then you run with it,” Miller said. “You have to find the things this group of guys are great at doing offensively and defensively and play to their strengths. So just finding out what they are good at and using their strengths and playing to those strengths is a big thing that will help them be more successful. That is our goal in camp and in the preseason is to find what they are good at and play to their strengths.”

On offense, being balanced is a goal for the Bulldogs according to Miller and he said that the Bulldogs are known for playing physically and that being physical at the point of the attack is something they are going to work on. 

For the returning players one way they can help the newer players according to Miller is for them to step up and be leaders.

“Take those younger guys under their wings and kind of help them get prepared for varsity level football,” Miller said. “I think we have a good group of seniors, not a lot of them, but a good group that is able to do that and help the coaching staff get those kids where they need to be by week one of football.”

For the younger players getting used to varsity, Miller said one thing he hopes they adjust to during the early games of the season is the pace of play.

“It is a different speed once you jump from JV to varsity football,” Miller said. “So they are going to need to adjust to the speed of the game, that is kind of the main thing once you get used to the speed of the game everything becomes a little bit easier. They will need to have a quick adjustment period to get used to the speed of the game and then trust the training and the fundamentals they are practicing and trust what the coaching staff is teaching them and trust themselves to use that and that will help them be successful on the field.”

Playing older teams will be one of the challenges the Bulldogs will face this year.

“The younger kids will be playing some senior heavy teams so they will have to go up against some stronger kids and some faster kids in some areas,” Miller said. “So just being able to put themselves in the right position to compete whatever it might be but that will be something that helps them be successful is playing to their strengths and find a way to give themselves an advantage for one of their weaknesses. It is a team sport so they have to rely on each other and look to each other for support and as they build experience I have no doubts that this team will be successful.”

As the team gains more experience, Miller said that as the season moves along that he would like to see them execute at a higher level.

“So that the things you might screw up in at your scrimmage or week one of football hopefully those mistakes become minimal,” Miller said. “You would like to limit mistakes and execute at a high level once they gain experience.”