The Cedar Hill Longhorns were finally able to fully turn the horns lose as they strapped up their pads for the first time this season and went to work as the clock struck midnight on Thursday to signify that Cedar Hill football is locked in for the upcoming season.
Even with a midnight practice, the energy could be felt throughout the stadium as a strong showing of Cedar Hill fans made their way to Longhorn Stadium to witness the fast tempo and aggressive clashing of pads as Cedar Hill wasted no time in getting their individual and team drills underway.
“We had a great crowd. The students came out at midnight and it was awesome to see. It’s just awesome to be back home in the place where I feel I grew the most as a coach,” said head coach Carlos Lynn who was thrilled to see the amount of support in the stands.
The pads coming on were a culmination of the first week of practice that left Coach Lynn with the satisfaction in knowing that the team had not lost a step since their spring drills and that his program was moving in the proper direction.
“All week I’ve really been impressed with the ability of our kids to be able to retain the things that we did in the spring. I thought we executed well early and we were able to pick up from where we left off. We didn’t have to start all over from scratch and that was important for me,” said Lynn. “We had a base laid and a foundation set that we could continue building on and the kids did an outstanding job of retaining. . .the kids responded tonight, I was pleased.”
While Cedar Hill can always be put in discussions for teams with the potential for a run at the state title, for Cedar Hill to obtain all the new information that came along with the hiring and transition of Lynn and company only makes them more dangerous, especially with the amount of talent on both sides of the ball.
For defensive back Jamarceon Jackson, who is coming over from Louisiana Haynesville High School, seeing progress while in being a stage of transition is an integral aspect of obtaining the ultimate goal that has been embedded into the players through the way Coach Lynn and his staff coach the program.
“The ultimate goal is to win a state championship and that’s what the coaches are coaching us about. How to be a champion, how to be disciplined and to do what we are being coached,” said Jackson.
It can be summed up in two words, ‘lock in’, which has become the calling card for Cedar Hill this season and the Twitter hashtag of choice that represents the program.
“The ‘lock in’ concept is to make sure that we take care of us. If we take care of us, if we are locked in on us and the things we’ve been coached to do and how we’ve been coached to play, we should be successful,” said Lynn.
Defensive lineman Shabazz Dotson was locked in all throughout practice as he led a defense that swarmed to the ball and tried to impose its will during team drills. For Dotson it was about making sure the defense came out ready to be fast in their first padded practice.
“Get turnovers and be fast. We want to be the fastest defense in the state so [naturally] being fast will get us there,” said Dotson. “We have a pretty good team this year. We really don’t worry about others so we just focus on what we can do and what we can handle and put it out there on the field.”
There was no shortage of offensive highlights either and wide receiver Joshua Fleeks was taken somewhat by surprise by the offensive efforts on the night and throughout the week.
“We performed better than what I thought we would. We listened, locked in and stayed ready,” said Fleeks.
While Cedar Hill is still a few scrimmages and practices away from their big showdown with Allen, it was evident that no matter what time or what day, this team is locked in and ready to lead the charge into the season.
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