After a month's worth of workouts, the Rider Raiders and Wichita Falls High School Coyotes are ready to compete.
The payoff for both teams' players who have endured spring practice comes during the next two days with their spring games. Old High's Red & Black Game is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Stadium. Rider's Black & Gold Game comes almost 24 hours later at 6 p.m. Friday at Memorial.
The two programs have both enjoyed a successful spring, according to both coaches. This is WFHS coach Grant Freeman's second spring leading the program, which he says has been the biggest difference this year compared to last.
“This has been an incredibly productive spring for us,” Freeman said. “We feel like we've gotten better every practice really. The players came in understanding how we practice. Plus our staff was already in place where last year we were just getting guys in. We weren't evaluating anyone on our staff, so we got to spend more time evaluating players.”
Rider coach Marc Bindel is entering his fourth season leading the Raiders and has a team that will feature an injection of youth along with some experienced seniors.
“We've got a good mix of young and old,” Bindel said. “I've been really proud of our seniors stepping up and leading. In spring ball, there's lulls. We start out with a lot of energy, but there's a drop off when they realize they don't get to play any games. We've really picked up our energy after we took a break for the STAAR testing. As we get closer to the spring games, the guys really start to get excited.”
Both teams will use similar formats for their respective spring games.
The Coyotes were split down the middle to start spring practices. Players and coaches were placed on two teams – Red and Black – with a true draft. Offensive coordinator Jeremy Gantt and defensive coordinator Chase Hargis are the respective head coaches of the two teams.
The Coyotes are playing two 30-minutes halves with a running clock separated by a 10-minute halftime. The ball will go to the 30-yard line after each score. Teams can either punt, kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down. Punts and field goals will only have the snapper and the kicker with a returner using the fair-catch rule on punts.
The winner of the game receives a Glitter Ball Trophy.
“The spring game is like icing on the cake to me,” Freeman said. “We've done all the work and the evaluations of our kids. Now it's time for the kids to cut loose and have some fun. That's what I'm looking to get out of it.”
Rider spring game will be played with four 10-minute quarters. The Raiders have also been split into two teams, although quarterbacks Jacob Rodriguez and Jack Cantrell will alternate series for both squads. Defensive backs coaches Ronald Barrett and Rodney Savanich are the respective head coaches of the two teams.
The Raiders will be live with full punt teams as they've already installed that part of their special teams. Any field goal attempts and kickoffs will not be done at full speed.
“These guys want to compete,” Bindel said. “They're ready to play a game and we split them up to make it competitive. You want to always get out healthy – that's a very generic answer – but we want to see guys get off the ball and be physical. We want to see how they grasp some of the knowledge we've been throwing at them because we have been throwing a lot at them. But most importantly, we want them to have fun.”