BULLDOGS
STORY BY JAKE WINFREY
Cody McCain loved how
his team competed
down the stretch in
2019.
And although Hanceville
lost its final four games of the
season, the third-year coach
was more than encouraged
with the way his program
was trending entering the
offseason.
Now, according to the
34-year-old, it’s time to take on
the challenges of 2020.
The first of those originated
in January, when the Bulldogs
were bumped from Class 3A to
4A.
The second obstacle came
when the COVID-19 outbreak
curtailed spring practice,
which certainly didn’t do
any favors for football teams
around the state — Hanceville
included.
And while those unique
circumstances have resulted in
more unknowns than he’d like,
McCain has chosen to take
comfort in ... well ... comfort.
“Moving into Year 3, there’s
a different comfort level there,”
he said. “You’re familiar with
all the kids, your surroundings
and your situation. And add
that to the end of the season,
when we felt we were playing
good football despite dropping
those last four games. But
those were against Midfield,
Fultondale, Locust Fork and
Good Hope — all playoff
teams. And we were within
striking distance in all of
those games. We felt we
made a lot of good, solid
progression. We also felt like
if we had stayed in 3A, we’d be
a favorite to make the playoffs
in our region. We felt we had
made enough improvements
there.”
Unfortunately for McCain,
the AHSAA had other ideas
and promoted the Bulldogs to 4A for the
first time since 1995. Tack that on to the
difficulties presented by COVID-19, and
it’s been a put-some-hair-on-your-chest
kind of offseason.
“The challenge for everybody with
COVID was and is the unknown,”
McCain said. “There’s just so much
unknown going into that first game. The
kids aren’t really set in our routine like
normal, and you’re basically taking
your summer roster and playing a
game. That’s a challenge for us.
“We’re not blessed with
overwhelming numbers to begin
with. We’re looking at 25-
30 kids for that first game,
whereas other schools our
size are going to have closer
to 50. This will be a learning
experience in the first year.
We’ve got to continue to grow
our roster by getting more kids
out to play and more coaches
out to coach. We want to be
competitive.”
SCHEDULE
Aug. 20: at Vinemont
Aug. 28: BYE
Sept. 4: vs. Fultondale*
Sept. 11: at Dora*
Sept. 18: vs. Good Hope*
Sept. 25: vs. Locust Fork
Oct. 2: at Oneonta*
Oct. 9: Etowah*
Oct. 16: at Ashville*
Oct. 23: Section
Oct. 30: at Elkmont
*Class 4A, Region 6 Game
36 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW