HSFT19 Stop #25 — Lamar County Bulldogs

“To be a state championship caliber program. So we tell them it doesn’t matter if we’re in 2A or 3A or who is ever out there. The same formula for winning is the same every year,” head coach Robbie Bradford said,

The Bulldogs are used to having an experienced senior class on their side, but this season will be different.

While some teams may look at being younger as a disadvantage, the guys in Vernon don’t think that way.

“We lost a lot of leaders and people expect us to be underdogs,” senior LB/RB Nathan Morris said. “We’re confident in ourselves. We know if we stick together and do what we need to do we’ll be successful.”

“We really try to set a standard for these kids to follow. We hope when we leave here they have something to go by,” senior QB TJ Eskridge said.

“We just have to tell them to work hard, because they’ll be leading the team next year,” senior HB/DE Mason Wise said.

“This community demands that these kids play hard. They have to play with great work ethic, with discipline and toughness,” Bradford said.

For the Bulldogs saying that they want to win a state championship is one thing. What they strive for is becoming a state championship caliber team.

“We want to be one the team’s that’s fighting for it year in and year out. Talent graduates but the recipe for success is the same every year and that consistency is what we’re trying to build here in Lamar County,” Bradford said.

“We just want to show people that we’re not going to quit no matter what,” Eskridge said.

“You got to go out there and hit somebody. Make a play, do something, get the tone started. Once you do one good thing other good things usually follow,” Morris said.

The Bulldogs are preparing for every practice and every game not solely focusing on securing wins but improving each and every day.

“We just want to be as good as we can be. We don’t want to play to anybody else’s standards we just want to be as good as we can be,” Eskridge said.

“Every practice we want to be better when we leave than when we get there. The same thing with every game. Of course we’re going to do everything we can to be on the right side of the scoreboard but at the end of the game we want to look back and get better and better. Usually the teams that do that are the teams that are playing in the playoffs at the end,” Bradford said.

The season begins in Vernon with a match-up to South Lamar on August 23rd.