ABILENE, Texas — Last football season may not have ended the way the Abilene Wylie Bulldogs planned, but heading into this season, the Bulldogs are confident they will get back to their winning ways.
After undergoing a tough 4-6 season and finishing third in the district, head coach Clay Martin believes his team has what it takes to bounce back.
“I think we've had a great tradition at Wiley and, you know, something that I'm very proud to have been a part of for a long time. You know something that we've just continued to try to uphold and something that we feel like we're getting better and we're doing things the right way. We’re creating a situation, an atmosphere in which, you know, we think we're putting together a great team,” Martin said.
This year the competition only gets tougher for the Bulldogs, who are now in a new division (2-5A Division II). They will face off in a rivalry game against Abilene Cooper High School for the first time, a matchup the Bulldogs have already circled on their calendars.
“We're pretty determined to have a good year and get back on track. So that'll be week 11, our last regular season game of the year. Now that they're in our district, it's going to be exciting and that's a game we all have scheduled and we're ready to play,” senior quarterback KJ Long said.
The Bulldogs may be walking into this season as an underdog, but upcoming players like junior running back Malachi Daniels hope his team can go out there and prove everyone wrong.
“I would love to get a district championship, that would be great. I just want to play great you know, maybe break 1,000 yards rushing. I feel like people have counted us out before we even stepped on the field, so we have a lot to prove,” Daniels said
The Bulldogs begin their season at 7 p.m. Aug. 26, against Brownwood.
