ABBOTT, Texas (KXXV — The Abbott Panthers are playing on new territory...literally, as they open fall practices on their new football field.
"It's been awesome. I think it's added a level of excitement too for the guys, you know, something new and I feel like you get rewarded for a lot of hard work and definitely adds some energy and some newness to it," Abbott head football coach, Kyle Crawford, said.
"Well, it's great. I mean, we couldn't do without our community, our fans, our parents, our coaching staff, coach Crawford just retired, but he was a huge part of that. He helped a lot. I mean, you just look around and it's really nice. You wouldn't think it's a 1A field," senior, Mason Hejl, said.
The Panthers had another great season last year, but for the team, it doesn't live up to program standards.
"We were kind of on a down year, everybody knows that. Nobody talks about it during it, but now that's over, we were kind of on a down year. But we weren't going to let that affect us," Hejl said.
"We were rolling, we were playing all right. And then we just we just kind of hit a train. The end of the season hits and we're just like, all right, man, we got one more — we might as well go make the best out of it."
"Well, last year was a great year. Make it to the quarterfinals, play over Thanksgiving. You're in the final eight in the state. But unfortunately, in Abbott, that's not always good enough," Crawford said.
Abbott has several players returning and it's a last hurrah for the senior class.
"When you have seniors who are in their last last go around of playing football. You know, you get a little bit of extra desperation and urgency to go get things done. And so I'm really excited to have a good senior group that's been in a lot of big games," Crawford said.
"We've been through so much. We've been through it together ups and downs. We've loved each other, hated each other at times, but we stick through it. We stay with each other. We feel like we've given a lot to this program, but we also feel like there's still more to give and that's what this season is for, is to give what this program deserves," Hejl said.
Abbott opens the season on the road on August 30 against Oglesby.
