MART, TX — It's hard to schedule games when you don't even know for sure if you'll have a season, but it's even harder to schedule games when you're a football powerhouse looking for your fourth straight state championship.
The Mart Panthers have conquered a lot, but the 2020 season is proving tougher than anything the three-peat state champions have faced before.
"It's a blessing, it really is. Don't take anything for granted. It can be taken away fast," said senior linebacker Micah Sauls.
After a roller coaster preseason, the Panthers are now doing two-a-day practices and playing under the UIL guidelines. The challenge now? Scheduling teams to play in non-district games. But for some reason, no one wants to play Mart.
"If you wanna play, let's play, but we will play anybody," said Sauls.
"You'll have to ask them that question. I know when I look for schedules, I like to find tough people to play. I am not too worried about our non-district schedule. We could go 5-0, we've done that, and not won a state championship. We've gone 2-3 in non-district and ended up winning a state championship, so to me, the non-district schedule is not about wins and losses, it's about getting better," said Mart Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Kevin Hoffman.
So far, Mart is still needing to fill two spots in their schedule.
"When we didn't think we were gonna get started until September 8, it was going to take half of our schedule away, so we are happy to have the three extra games is the way we are looking at it. I'd like to find two more, but if we don't find two more, we don't find two more," said Coach Hoffman.
Despite the hectic last few weeks, Mart is now focused on making up the lost time in the preseason with one goal in mind: a fourth straight state championship and a ninth state title overall.
The Panthers are returning a very experienced group of sophomores and are hopeful for another successful season starting with their first game on August 28 hosting Teague.
