WACO, Texas — Football fever is going around at Waco High School as the Lions have opened practice back up for the 2023 season.
"It's been good. Everybody's motivated, ready to work, coming to compete and getting better every day," senior player, Tyrone Sumpter said.
In the 2022 season, the Lions finished with a 2-8 record and 1-7 in district play. It was a tough season, but a lot was learned.
"I don't think people value what our kids do enough. They deal with some things from time to time," said, head coach Linden Heldt.
"They're incredibly hard working, incredibly resilient and honestly, they've kind of deserved what we believe will be a payoff season — one that kind of gets us back to where we would want to be. I'm really excited about this year and what they can do, but our kids deserve the world."
"It's not just there to say we're working and we're not winning. When we win, then everybody sees that we actually put in the work and for this year, we have success," senior player, Lazavier Amos said.
Now the focus shifts to this season as there are new players on the team and the seniors look to step up as leaders and help reach their goal and reach their expectations.
"In my first two years, we had 10 to 12 sophomores every year. Well, now they get to play two to three years on varsity this year," Heldt said.
"We'll maybe have two sophomores on the varsity football team. The numbers weren't quite where we wanted them to be, and now we're much more insulated with the kids that know what to do and have a little taste of big school football."
The Waco Lions begin their season at home on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. against the Southwest Raiders.
