Braves and Wolverines ready to open season
Attendance to be limited to immediate family members of players
HAMILTON CITY >> Shavon Gramps-Green woke up Thursday morning mistakenly thinking it was game day. The senior for the Biggs High football team had been anxiously anticipating Friday night to arrive.
“I woke up today thinking it was Friday. I checked the day and it wasn’t I was kind of butthurt,” Gramps- Green admitted. “There’s only one more day to go so I’m juiced.”
Danny Alvarez could hardly contain his excitement. The junior for the Hamilton football team has been so happy he can hardly sleep at night.
“I’ve been waiting. I’m excited,” Alvarez said.
Biggs and Hamilton will be the first high schools in the area to kick off a long-awaited football season Friday night. The game begins at 7:30 p.m. at Hamilton High School. Attendance will be limited to players’ immediate household members.
It’s the first high school football game to take place in the area since fall 2019. For many of the players on both teams, it was the longest break from football they’ve experienced.
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet for all of us. I know the kids are really excited and thankful to have the opportunity,” said Aaron Elliott, head football coach at Hamilton.
Elliott is in his first year as head coach of the Braves. He said his players often showed up for voluntary practice.
“The kids have committed to the extended offseason. They showed up to every workout,” Elliott said. “I think it was hard for them not knowing if it was actually going to happen. We just tried to stay positive with them.”
At Hamilton, a school with less than 300 kids, most of the athletes play a variety of different sports. The challenge to hold multiple sports seasons at the same time is evident.
A few soccer players wrapped up practice on Wednesday afternoon hustled over from an adjacent field, changed into football pads and were ready to run football practice.
Elliott said that the kids have been motivated to play whatever sports they can despite having to double practice.
“Some of them wrote letters to the governor and said this is what got them up in the morning. This is what kept them going to school and doing their homework. Not just football, but soccer, baseball, volleyball,” Eliott said. “For these kids, it was the hope that got them through. To see it come to fruition is a real blessing.”
At Biggs, a senior-heavy varsity squad is aiming to finish out with an undefeated season. The Wolverines have a six-game schedule. When they discovered a football season would happen, the seniors were ecstatic.
“I’m pretty sure everyone on the football team was cheering in the hallways when we finally got word that we could go,” said Biggs’ senior Aiden Solansky. “At the end of the day, the goal is to go undefeated
and get as many games in as we can and do our best in each one of those games.”
Gramps- Green, who scored 26 touchdowns as a junior to lead the Wolverines during the 2019-2020 season, said football has meant everything.
“It means everything at this point. I didn’t think my senior season would be cut so short but after what we’ve been through, it’s a lot longer than I expected it to be,” Gramps- Green said. “I’m glad I get to come back out here one last time.”