BEAUMONT, Texas — The wait is finally over.
Football is back in the great state of Texas, and more importantly, back in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Texas.
Several schools began their individual journeys to district titles on August 5.
The Vidor Pirates, West Orange-Stark Mustangs, Jasper Bulldogs, Hardin-Jefferson Hawks, and the Lumberton Raiders each held early morning practices, with Bridge City hosting early practice for the incoming Freshman.
In Sour Lake, Hardin-Jefferson woke up before the roosters did to begin working on their craft at 6:00am.
Head Coach Zach Bass immediately implemented quick work to get his guys moving in the right direction early in the morning.
After the first hour, a 5-minute water break ensued and Bass brought over two key members to his squad to interview with 12News.
Junior Center Hayden Henry and Senior wideout/safety Sam Jones will be huge factors if HJ wants to create wins in 2024.
"We need to stay locked in, no horseplay," both Jones and Henry said talking about what it will take to move the program forward.
Each season brings new challenges and hardships, losing will more than likely happen every now and then but out in Sour Lake, the mentality is to keep pressing forward.
"Can't be mad at all if you lose, tell him [each other] to keep his head up," said Jones.
As for Lumberton, the senior class that departed from the Raiders in 2023 left behind some big shoes to fill in 2024.
New Head Coach Chase McDonald had his young men moving the weights around at 6:00am before hitting the field in helmet-only practice and drills at 7:00am.
With being named as the new head football coach, the student athletes expect the coach to come out firing to get his players fired up.
That's something McDonald did right out of the gate.
Yelling until he lost his voice, and stepping in as quarterback during walkthrough drills for the running game, Coach McDonald brought the energy, and so did his players.
"The energy is high, it always is on day one. The challenge is the day five energy's got to be the same as the day one," said McDonald.
One huge important key to the two-a-day practices before the season is bringing a form of consistency back within the team.
"We had summer workouts all Summer, [and] some guys are here [during summer workouts] and some are on vacation, but not anymore. It's here, they're all here, keeping them in a groove is a priority of ours," said McDonald.
Schools will continue to work out through the week before scrimmage play begins next week.