Practice begins for '07 Bulldogs

THE FIRST HUDDLE OF THE YEAR - At right: Kilgore High School head football coach Mike Vallery (standing, center) meets briefly with players during the first day of practice on Monday. Below: defensive coordinator Mike Wood watches players go through drills. The Bulldogs will go the first few days of practice without pads, then begin practicing with them on Friday. They didn't begin practice at midnight, or have the cheerleaders and Hi-Steppers and marching band lined up for an impromptu fest, or even have "We Will Rock You" blaring from speakers outside the Mitchell Field House.

But the Kilgore High School football program did host its first day of practice for the 2007 season on Monday, coaches giving instruction and players sprinting to spots as if it were practice No. 23.

The Bulldogs are having twoa days this week, practicing on the traditional practice field near the field house for two hours in the morning and about the same near the evening in cooler temperatures. The first day with players wearing pads will be Friday, and on Saturday, the program heads to R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium for photo day.

Photo by Lester Murray As school nears, practices will be held just once a day, with the first scrimmage scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 18 at Dallas Kimball - that day, Kilgore will scrimmage Kimball and Haltom.

On Friday, Aug. 24, the Ragin' Red scrimmage at Tatum, then open the season Aug. 31 at home against Crockett.

In addition to some players moving up from the junior varsity level, Kilgore's varsity program has two new coaches this season: Mike Collins, the son of former Longview High School and longtime Louisiana coaching great Pat Collins, who will coach outside linebackers, and Andy Robinson, formerly an assistant at Louisiana Tech, who will coach wide receivers.

Also new this season is a new athletic department secretary. Sharon Breedlove replaces Debbie Copeland, who retired after almost 20 years in the KHS AD office.

The Bulldogs are three years removed from a UIL Division II Class 4A state championship, but missed the playoffs last year for the first time in nearly a decade and a half, after sending several players to college programs, many to Division I.

As the team practices, season ticket sales are ongoing. Season tickets for last year's season ticket holders are on sale throughout the week this week at the AD office, and are $25 each. Those tickets that aren't picked up will go on sale next week, beginning Monday, to anyone and everyone that would like to have a season ticket at the same cost. For information on season tickets, call the AD office at (903) 984-6009.

As practice moves along, check out periodic reports on the Ragin' Red here in the pages of the Kilgore News Herald's sports section, and see the annual football preview for all things local football on Thursday, Aug. 23.

The section includes previews of KHS, Sabine High School, Overton High School, West Rusk High School, Leverett's Chapel and, of course, Kilgore College, entering the inaugural season under head coach J.J. Eckert.