SOUR LAKE, Texas — Since flood waters from Harvey submerged the Sour Lake area in 2017, Hardin-Jefferson ISD has a had a long road to recovery. But with new buildings and athletic facilities going up, hawk territory is starting to look much different.
First year Head Coach Zach Bass has been impressed with what he has seen.
"We sat in on an in service training called The History of HJ the other day. Mrs. Sherman talked about whatever the community does, they doe it in the best interest of their kids. I don't think you can argue with that just walking around here."
Now Coach Bass wants to put his stamp on a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2016, that includes moving away from the slot t.
"So we have some versatility and depth in the receivers and secondary. O-linemen is your typical group of hard working yes sir, no sir kids. We have two sophomores battling it out at quarterback in Connor Mouton and Logan Trotter. A bunch of running backs. That was one thing you had in the slot-t was running backs, and we have a bunch of kids that can churn out tough yards and help us out. So offensively I think we have a lot of depth that maybe we didn't anticipate at first."
Bass knows he'll need that depth when facing the stiff competition in his new district.
"When you play teams like that you find out what kind of team you have. Having played for Larry Neumann at Nederland, our non-district was always really tough. We played La Marque and Friendswood, Texas City, West Brook at that time with them being bigger than us. You really find out what your team is made of. You know I think Coach Smith at Silsbee, Hiawatha at West Orange, Coach Crum at Jasper. Yeah those are good programs, but those are really good coaches that are running those programs. So it's a measuring stick, and you know the rest of our district is really solid."
HARDIN-JEFFERSON HAWKS
2021 Record: 1-8, 0-6
District Finish: 6th
Playoffs: None
State Championships: None
State Championship Appearances: None
Playoff Appearances: 13 (Last 2020)
2022 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Aug. 25 - vs Little Cypress-Mauriceville (BISD Memorial Stadium)
Sept. 2 - vs Anahuac
Sept. 9 - vs East Chambers
Sept. 16 - at Diboll
*Sept. 30 - vs Silsbee
*Oct. 7 - at Liberty
*Oct. 14 - vs Hamshire-Fannett
*Oct. 21 - at Bridge City
*Oct. 28 - vs Jasper
*Nov. 4 - at West Orange-Stark