With less than 19 days left until school begins, and less than 23 until the first football game, the incoming freshman, JV and varsity teams are busy preparing for the upcoming season.

Last season, the Varsity Lions made it to the first round of playoffs against McCallum High School, but had a shaky path getting there.

“It was the first time in a long time that we had a losing record, so we’ve got to bounce back,” senior quarterback Brandon Hopp said.

In order to bounce back, the players have been working on learning both sides of the ball, executing better and becoming more of a team.

“I feel like our whole team is becoming stronger and faster, and that’s going to help us,” senior linebacker Andrew Alaniz said. “With the offense, catch passes, run the ball, and [on] defense, stop the runner.”

This week, the potential incoming freshman players have been attending a voluntary camp where they learn base defense and coverage. Out of the 99 who have signed up for freshman football, about 65 were in attendance.

“The basic thing for them is to have fun, have a great time,” Coach Pels said, “but more than anything we’re just teaching them how to have fun and play together, we want it to be a great experience for them.”

According to the tentative schedule for this summer, there will be an intramural scrimmage August 16 and a scrimmage against Stony Point at Stony Point August 22.

Keep checking back for the scrimmage times!

You can also check out the Leander football website – they have a newly designed website with photos, game schedules and other information.

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