#HSFT20 Stop #50 — New Hope Trojans

NEW HOPE, Miss. (WCBI) — The New Hope Trojans are hungry for a football season.

The Trojans return to work after the team’s first year in 5A, finishing 3-9 overall.

While New Hope was put to the test by big teams like, Houston, Lafayette, Itawamba and West Point, the Trojans are hoping to rise to the challenge in 2020.

“Last year, we feel like we took a step closer getting more competitive in games, suring up some things take that and we’ve had a really good off-season,” head coach Wade Tackett said. “Really great group of kids so taking that into the season this year.”

“We did pretty well of playing together,” senior OLB Hayden Harris said. “We want to just up it this year and maybe we can go all the way.”

“I mean, it was a little difficult, but you know we get used to it and it’ll come together,” junior LG Jeremiah Jefferson said.

“Every week is a new week,” senior quarterback Zac Butler said. “You have to play the best to be the best. We may not have as much talent as every other team but if we work hard we’ll be where we want to be and that’s to be state champs.”

Although the Trojans have been young in years past, the Trojans have more experience on the defensive side of the ball.

“Really feel like our defense is our strong suit right now. We’re going to lean on them a little bit. We’re still very young on offense, a ton of juniors and sophomores are going to be out there. We feel like all of our skill positions on offense have improved tremendously. We feel like the overall attitude of the team is different, the focus is different, the drive, the effort is more right now,” Tackett said.

“We’re coming together. We’ve come a long way. You know, as long as we hold and keep each other accountable and everything that’s all it’s about,” Jefferson said.

While the Trojans might be a younger team than others, the experience is there to find success.

“Weh have a lot of players on this time that have a lot of snaps under their belt now. We have a lot of senior leadership and a lot of junior leadership. We got a lot of PT with these kids. These kids know what Friday nights look like in 5A football and that’s something that we haven’t had prior years,” Tackett said.

New Hope starts the season off at Houston on September 4th.