LIBERTY HILL VARSITY FOOTBALL

by Charlotte Kovalchuk

Fall is in the air, which means it's football season, and the Liberty Hill High School varsity football team is hard at work making this season one of its best. They first took the field August 26 and aim to make their mark at the state championship game in December. “It’s football season, so there’s a lot of excitement in the air,” says Coach Kent Walker, who is in his seventh year of coaching at the school. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re a young team right now, but I’m excited about our kids and being able to watch them develop throughout the year.”

Boosting Morale

According to Coach Walker, a day in the life of a Liberty Hill varsity football player is never a walk in the park, but he always makes sure they have time outside of practice for rest, homework, and family. The boys arrive at the field at 6am for practice and go back after school to lift weights and watch films of previous games. Coach Walker says he tries to get the kids off the field by 6pm so they can be home for dinner and have time for homework. “We hold [our team] to an extremely high standard,” he says. “We’re hoping that pays off for us this year, and that we’ll have another great season of Liberty Hill football.”

To keep morale up, players have a motivational story time every Wednesday afternoon as well as a weekly dinner and team bonding at one of the player’s homes. The team’s motto this year is “hold the rope,” which means that they refuse to let go of the rope for each other. “If you were hanging off a cliff,” Coach Walker explains, “who would you want to hold the rope for you and keep you from falling? That’s our mentality this year. We trust each other to hold the rope for each other.”

Upcoming Season

This season, 50 boys make up the varsity team, but Coach Walker says that varies week to week because they occasionally bring in kids from the junior varsity team when needed. Senior Noah Long is the team’s starting tailback and, according to Coach Walker, Noah has been on the team since his freshman year, which is a rare and exceptional achievement.

“We have a very talented senior class leading the team this year,” Coach Walker says proudly. “Our offense has done well, and our running backs and offensive lines are really good. It’s a tight-knit group, and they’re really working hard for each other. We’re excited to see what they can do.”

The coach believes playing a team sport is important for kids because of the lessons they learn and football, specifically, teaches them a lot about life. During practices, he tries to relate the sport to a different life lesson to teach his team that life isn’t always easy; what matters is how you get through those adversities. “Liberty Hill is such an awesome community,” Coach Walker says. “We have such great support from our community, and it shows every Friday night in the stands and on the field. It’s just a great place, and it’s awesome for our kids to get to play football in this community.”