HSFT18: Stop No. 49 – Amory Panthers

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) — 2017 put the Amory Panthers to the test.

Going 4-8 with a 33.3 winning percentage was a clear indicator of that. Now 2018 is the year for change. In other words, it’s comeback season.

“We had some very talented young men for whatever reason we just didn’t gel,” head coach Allen Glenn said. “Sometimes teams do that unfortunately. Last year was one of those years for us but hopefully we can rebound from that.”

‘Gel-ing’ this year shouldn’t be much of an issue. Coach Glenn says that team chemistry is what’s going to make the biggest difference between last year’s team and now.

“We had a great spring, great off-season,” Glenn said. “A lot of camaderie, a lot of togetherness that I see. Not a lot of ‘me’, not a lot of ‘I’. You know, it’s been a lot of a team oriented deal so we’re really excited about that part.”

“We are a family more than we are anything,” senior OLB Cooper Jones said. “Coaches have been talking to us this year that it is my senior year but I need brothers no matter what through all the rest of it.”

That togetherness isn’t the only big change. With 90 percent attendance over the summertime along with more challenging workouts it was only a matter of time before they noticed a big difference.

“Kind of harder than last year and two years ago I’ve been in this school,” senior receiver Trendan Gillon said. “But got to do what it takes to win football games. More running and harder lifting weights too. Instead of three sets of weights we’ve kind of been doing five and six reps.”

“They come to work everyday,” Glenn said. “They have a blue collar attitude. They come with their lunch pail to work every day and we hope that spills over into the season.”

The panthers want these changes to translate towards a playoff push eventually, but for now they remain focused on just having a successful season.

“I at least want us to win more division games and hopefully get past the first round,” Gillon said.

“Win a division. Win against Aberdeen. See how far we can make it in the playoffs,” Jones said. “We coming. We mad.”

Amory will open up against Desoto Central at home on August 17th.