HSFT Stop #16: Hatley

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) — The Hatley Tigers finally feel like they’re getting back on track. Following a 2-8 season in 3A last year, the Tigers are ramping things up in the offseason as they make the move down to 2A this year.

“It’s going to help us a lot,” sophomore Braxton Harlow said. “We learned from bigger teams how to play harder.”

Head coach Seth Lee described his first season at the helm in 2022 as a “difficult situation” in 3A. But despite facing off against championship caliber teams within their own district, the Tigers never quit.

“They fought. They didn’t give up,” Lee said. “They took every game the same, they didn’t care who they were playing. They were going to attack it to win it.”

And now with reclassification, comes almost an entirely new schedule. The only two constants from last season will be Smithville and Hamilton.

“It’s going to be a lot of film study for us coaches and getting ready for what’s going to happen, which is a good thing,” Lee said.

Despite heading into unfamiliar territory, the Tigers know people will look at their previous records and underestimate them.

“We’re underdogs,” Cayson Williams. “I don’t think anybody really knows what we’re capable of and this year we’re going to show them.”