Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
The Longhorns Are Back! Scrimmage This Friday
The 2022 Kimball Longhorns football players attend a team meeting in the weight room. If any other students are considering joining the squad, new coach Darell Howitt asks that they contact him ASAP.
Last year, the Kimball Longhorns football team had to forfeit all of its games due to lack of players. Now the team is back and ready for a full schedule of games for the 2022 season.
Under the direction of new activities director and head football coach Darrell Howitt, the Longhorns look to bring the community together with home games at Keith Staehr Field. Before that comes a 7 p.m. scrimmage this Friday, Aug. 19, followed by a parents meeting at 8:30 p.m.
Howitt is a native of Kimball and graduated from Kimball High School. He looks forward to having the community back and watching football games, and notes that there's excitement in Kimball about the return of the Longhorns team.
Kimball, which will field an 8-man team, is getting prepared for the challenge of a new team figuring out what talent they have, and how they will gel together as a team.
Howitt says he has a few seniors who have shown leadership ability and has a group that is eager to play and get Kimball back on the football map. Howitt says the goal is not only to field a competitive team this year, but to rebuild a tradition and ensure the Longhorns team is out there every year and is successful.
The team starts its season at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, against visiting Hyannis, then goes on the road to Dalton on Sept. 2 against a tough Leyton team that went 7-3 last year with a playoff win against Hyannis. The Longhorns next go on the road again on Sept. 9 against St. Pats, who finished with an 8-2 record, good enough for first place in C2 District 6.
These three challenging games should give the Longhorns a good sense of what kind of team they have, and to make adjustments.
Then, on Sept. 16, Kimball hosting Perkins County, which finished second in D1-11 last year.
The Longhorns will have many challenges getting back to being a competitive team in D1-8 man football, but they have an eager group of athletes willing to put in the work necessary, a coach with a focus on getting the team ready while building for the future, and an entire community behind them ready to cheer on their home team and get back to enjoying Friday Night Football.