Mission Bulldogs prep for season

Mission Valley High School football coach Tyler Murray hasn’t been at the helm very long but is already noticing significant progress in his team as the opening day of high school training camp rapidly approaches.

“We had our camp last week and it was crazy from the beginning to the end of the camp seeing how the guys adjusted to it,” Murray said. “We made a lot of improvement mentally and our team is starting to develop an understanding of our offense.”

In 2016, the Bulldogs started several freshman and sophomores in key positions and struggled to adapt to the age difference of their opponents. Several times during the course of the season, their young team was pitted against juniors and seniors that were 17 and 18 years old that caused match up problems for the Bulldogs.

“The experience my team got was pretty valuable,” Murray said. “It is kind of intimidating when you have freshmen that are 13 or 14 years old and they may be assigned to play against a 17 or 18-year-old,” Murray said. “Maturity happens in that age group. It’s a very big transition and it can be a little scary when a smaller freshman is up against a senior that is bigger and stronger on the other team.”

Murray said he felt the varsity experience was significant for an inexperienced team that will now transition from Class B to Class-C, 8-man football this season.

“I think we got some guys coming back that have grown up a little bit,” Murray said. “A lot of them were freshmen that we played last season. We have a lot of sophomores this year and the experience should be good for them. From what I can see from the beginning of the season, they’ve gotten bigger and faster. There are a lot of younger guys on our team that will contribute and we have some seniors that will contribute as well.”

Murray said he felt several players have progressed from last season.

“They’ve come in and they have worked all summer,” Murray said. “We also have a couple of juniors and sophomores.”

One area that will help aid the Bulldogs’ quest to have a successful transition into the Class-C, 8-man football is their large numbers. Last year, during their season kickoff against Lincoln, Mission had a total of 27 kids on their active roster.

“Hopefully, there is enough interest in both (the middle school and high school program) this year,” Murray said. “We have learned both our offense and defense, and it’s worked out pretty well.”

On defense, Murray said it will be a “transition period” as his team transitions from the 11-man to 8-man football game.

“Defensively, it’s going to be tough,” Murray said. “We are still figuring out exactly how we want to do things but until we play a game, we aren’t going to be sure exactly on what to do. We threw formations at them. They could visualize them and draw it up on the white board but you still have to make it work. Our camp was good for working on lineups and formations.”

The Bulldogs will play Flint Creek in their season opener on Aug. 25.

Murray said he felt if his team sticks to the basic fundamental elements of football, they will be successful.

“The kids are loving it so far,” Murray said. “Like I said, football is still blocking and tackling. We are emphasizing the fundamentals and trying to make sure we still understand football. It’s just three less guys (on the field) but you still have to make plays, blocks and tackles, and our team has bought into it.”