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Soldiering on: Scheduling woes don't deter strong first week of Panthers practice
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
Plano East knows the two-and-a-half weeks its football team has together to gear up for the Aug. 30 season opener against Garland are precious.
That means making the most of this first week of practice, by whatever means necessary.
"Our whole goal between now and the 30th is to outwork Garland, because they've got a great program," said Johnny Ringo, East head coach. "Every team is a work in progress right now and we hope to be further along than they are when we play."
East's approach to the first leg of fall practices has been a bit of adapting on the fly.
"We've had to adjust time-wise, but our kids have done a good job adapting to the schedule," Ringo said. "We're following the UIL guidelines put in place. For the first four days in no pads, you can have one workout and then the walkthrough, so we've done that."
The Panthers' schedule this past week has run the gamut, from opening Monday by practicing 7-10:20 a.m. with a 20-minute break from 8:30-8:50, to afternoon workouts Tuesday through Thursday that last for a couple hours and can wrap up anywhere from 7:40 p.m. Wednesday to 4 p.m. Thursday.
It's all in line with UIL procedure, as teams endure a four-day acclimatization period. During that stretch, no contact is permitted and no contact equipment outside of helmets may be worn.
The schedule resumed a fairly normal course Friday as East held a traditional two-a-day format of 7-9 a.m. and 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Day or night, sunrise or sunset, the players are just glad to be on a football field again.
"With all the stuff we go through in the offseason," said Collin Shaw, East senior receiver, "and to finally get back out here, even if it isn't with pads yet, it's just an amazing feeling."
"We've been busy," added Jackson Garrey, East senior linebacker, "between meetings and workouts, then we come out to practice and then have more meetings and more workouts. It's been a grind everyday."
The Panthers have fluctuated between standard team and individual periods, plus spending the requisite time in the film room.
Fortunately for East coaches, a strong spring has made that process much easier.
"We feel good about how workouts have gone," said Mark Humble, East offensive coordinator. "The kids are working hard and ahead of the curve as far as installation and review. They have a lot of retention from the spring, so that's been a big positive."
While East continues to dust off the cobwebs and tend to business on the field, the team is still facing its most vexing scheduling issue in recent memory. With months of searching in the books, the Panthers are still without a final non-district opponent to round out their 10-game schedule.
"We've tried everybody," Ringo said. "We thought we had Monterey Tech (Mexico) and Stephenville may still be a possibility. There are still some teams who need games, like Denton Ryan, but for whatever reason have chosen not to play."
As is, the Panthers will wrap up non-district Sept. 21 against Flower Mound Marcus and would not return to action until Oct. 12 for their District 10-5A opener against Allen.
Not an ideal period for two open dates.
"For us, to have that time off would be good as a chance to heal up," Ringo said, "but we've got to figure out how we're going to handle it to put ourselves in the best position so when we play Allen, we're not reverting back to how we looked in Week 0."
Despite there being no shortage of teams still in search of games, part of the problem is convincing one to play the Panthers, with the school's staggering 6,015.5 enrollment.
"Part of the issue is being a big (Class) 5A school, a lot of people don't want to play," Ringo said. "Texarkana needs a game and there are people out there who need games; we just can't convince anybody to play."
There remains optimism the Panthers' schedule will be filled out in full, but there are plenty of bridges cross before mid-September, chiefly prepping for Aug. 30. And for the players, they are just enjoying an opportunity for some contact.
"If you're playing football, you just want to hit someone, especially on defense," Garrey said. "Getting to do that [on Friday was] great."
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