Published: July 30, 2009 11:19 pm         

Curtain coming up on practice

'Sense of urgency' awaits MC's Zeigler

It’s August, so it must be time for football.

Four of five area Georgia High School Association teams begin practice on Saturday, with two new head coaches — one at a brand new school — ready to raise the curtain on preparations for the 2009 season.

North Murray High, Dalton, Southeast and Murray County are scheduled to open practice Saturday morning. Northwest Whitfield begins workouts on Monday. Christian Heri-tage, coming off a Georgia Football League state championship in 2008, opened its preseason drills on Monday.

As it did last year, Murray County will get a jump on other teams by opening its regular season on Aug. 22 at East Hall in Gainesville.

Indians coach John Zeigler, heading a program for the first time since 1980 when he was at Santa Fe (Fla.) High, is eager to direct the Indians after serving as an assistant since 1984. Murray County’s first practice is scheduled for Saturday at 8 a.m.

“It’s an exciting time for us,” Zeigler said. “We’ve just finished up our summer workout program and the kids made some progress.”

Just a block away from the Indians’ practice field, coach Larry Cornelius will put his North Murray Mountaineers through their first preseason workout starting at 8:30 a.m. and running until 1 p.m. The Mountaineers will work out with that same schedule throughout August since school doesn’t begin until Sept. 8.

It’s all fresh at North Murray, a new school that will play a junior varsity schedule this season, beginning with a game against Murray County on Thursday, Aug. 27 at Murray Field.

The Mountaineers, who will be in their new facility for the 2010-11 school year, will practice on fields at the Murray County Recreation Department complex across the street from Murray County High in Chatsworth.

“We’re ready,” said Cornelius, who was an assistant coach at Murray County for two seasons before taking over the Region 6-3A North Murray program. “These kids are chomping at the bit to get on the field. We have a unique situation trying to build our new facilities and our biggest challenge has been getting our practice site ready to use. But you work with what you have.”

Classes for North Murray students will be held in the building adjacent to Murray Field that formerly housed Bagley Middle School and most recently the county’s Ninth Grade Academy.

Cornelius was busy Wednesday finishing up a locker room on the old gymnasium stage.

“We’re making progress,” he said.

Cornelius issued equipment on Thursday ahead of the Mountaineers’ first practice session on Saturday.

Zeigler said the Indians will start two-a-days on Monday, with the morning workout slated for 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and afternoon work going from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. After Monday, when a Region 7-4A coaches meeting is scheduled at Cass High in Cartersville, the Indians’ afternoon practice session will shift to 6 p.m. through 8 p.m.

With the Indians’ season opener scheduled a week before any other team in the area, Zeigler feels he has no time to waste in whipping his team into shape.

“There’s a sense of urgency,” Zeigler said. “We have a scrimmage on (Aug.) 14th and open the season the next week. It’s not like we have a lot of time.

Southeast coach David Crane, entering his second season with the Raiders, liked his Midnight Madness practice routine so much last year he’s doing it again this weekend. The Raiders will practice few minutes after midnight on Friday and work for about an hour into Saturday morning. The team will spend the night at the high school and be back on the practice field at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

“We’re ready to go,” Crane said. “We’ve had a good summer and the kids worked hard in the weight room, so we’re ready to roll.”

Dalton coach Adam Winegarden, whose Catamounts fell one win shy of the state playoffs in 2008, plans to send the Catamounts through two sessions Saturday at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

“We’re tired of the summer work and ready and excited to get started with the real deal,” said Winegarden, like Crane starting his second year as head coach. “The kids have had a good summer and been very dedicated.

“I’m eager to see them in practice and see how much they’ve improved.”

The Cats will leave Sunday for preseason camp at Bell Buckle, Tenn.

Northwest Whitfield coach Mike Falleur, who is entering his eighth season with the Bruins, decided to begin practice with two-a-days on Monday and will have the same schedule on Tuesday and Wed-nesday.

The Bruins will take Thursday off and conduct their on-campus minicamp on Friday (the first day of classes), Saturday and Sunday.

“We just went seven straight days with two camps,” Falleur said. “I just felt like starting on Saturday, stopping and starting back up on Monday wasn’t the best thing for us. Waiting until Monday just feels right.”

While Falleur is the dean of area head coaches in terms of longevity at the same school, he still gets that special feeling when preseason drills begin.

“This is what I do,” he said. “Obviously, it’s my favorite time of the year. I’m a football coach and a football fan. I love to coach and love to watch people play the game. I’d say just about every coach in every sport feels that way.”

     

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.