#HSFT22 Stop #4 – Hamilton Lions

HAMILTON (Miss.)- In coach Wade Tackett’s first season at Hamilton he led the Lions to their best record since 2014 and was one game away from a playoff birth. It wasn’t in the cards last season but the improvement set a foundation for this year.

“We made strides, we got better,” Tackett said. “We showed great growth through the year. The kids learned a ton of football last year and it shows right now.”

Making sure the team had belief was vital for the Lions to start having success.

“The first thing I did when I came here was try to instill that confidence in them, like, ‘hey guys you can compete with others teams,'” Tackett said. “They are just 16, 17 year old kids like you are.”

Now Hamilton is ready to play whoever is in its way.

“We feel like we have a fighting chance,” quarterback Evan Pounders said. “So when we go out there on Friday nights and are playing big teams that always win we aren’t thinking oh crap let’s get this game over with and go home. We are ready to go out there and play them and put our name on the map again.”

The players now know what they are capable of and they want to show the whole state.

“We really want to surprise a few people we have a level that we know we can play at, linebacker Parker Beasley said. “Not everyone else knows that we can play at. We can make a run.”

Hamilton hasn’t made the playoffs since 2013 and this team knows just how much it would mean if they could break that drought.

“You know everybody is watching and our community is a football school,” Pounders said. “Everybody wants us to go, so if we went we would be the team that started it.”

The Lions will start their season August 26th against Hatley.