Dublin Lions officially kick off season play Friday night, Aug. 30, as they host the DeLeon Bearcats at 7 p.m. on Cervetto Field.
The game will act as the annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes Challenge night with buckets set up for donation for both Dublin and DeLeon FCA groups, benefitting FCA activities in both communities. The group that gets the most donations will receive a plaque and bragging rights once the money is counted.
As the Lions step into the season, head football coach and athletic director Greg Hardcastle reported the team is benefiting from the experience from a large pool of seniors and juniors.
“For several of these seniors, this is their third year on varsity and we have seen some big improvements between last year this one,” Hardcastle said.
The coach also called out quarterback Kaden Gaitan, who he said is getting more and more comfortable with offense and will be able to offer leadership and help to some of the new varsity players.
Harcastle also reported bright spots in the running game thanks to players like DJ Ferguson and Fernando Esparza.
“Defensively, we’re still learning Coach [John] Ward’s system but we’ve settled into a 4-3 look and beginning to look comfortable in that,” Hardcastle added.
The Lions are stepping up to DeLeon after scrimmage play against Clyde which were punctuated by some bright spots and missed opportunities such as the miss of a turn over near the end zone.
“There’s things we’ve got to work on to get better,” Hardcastle admitted, adding that the scrimmages and non-district games work to build up his players.
“We always talk to the kids about three phases of season,” he said. “We work on improving in non-district so we can look to peak when we hit district play.”
Hardcastle said this helps in the first goal of qualifying for playoffs. After the team hits that goal, they can set goals of going further.
DeLeon is reportedly also bringing experience to the field Friday night with a returning starter as quarterback and support from an experience running back. “We’ll make sure we’re lined up correctly and adjust as they do motions,” Hardcastle said. “We need to try to slow them down.”
JV Lions will be traveling to DeLeon to face the Bearcats at 6 p.m. Thursday. Although pep rallies are being set in the gym at 12:31 p.m. Fridays this year, this week’s pep rally will be at 7:30 a.m. Friday due to Dublin hosting a volleyball tournament.