Red Level head football coach Tony Ingram said Monday’s practice was the best he’s seen in years.

That’s encouraging for the Tigers, who are seeking wins in 2012, as they prepare for their season-opener at Choctaw County, in Butler.

Ingram said the awesome practice session included most of what the Tigers do on a daily basis — conditioning during drills, running plays and others.

RLS did all of this on the cuff of a 53-6 loss to Straughn last week in its jamboree game.

“We came out and had the best day of practice (Monday) we’ve had in years,” Ingram said. “I didn’t know how they’d react after Straughn handled us like they did.

“As long as we were relatively fresh and at least competitive, we were OK,” he said. “It came to a point where their depth wore us out. With 24 kids that can happen.”

Ingram said SHS, a Class 3A team, will go far this season, noting it will make an appearance in the state playoffs.

“It was a good gauge considering the caliber opponent we were playing,” he said.

To prepare for Choctaw County, Ingram said he has two game films — one from last season and one from the spring game.

“They’re big, fast and athletic,” he said. “With the bunch we’re playing, we’ve got to contain that speed. We’ve got to be disciplined and run our plays the way we designed them.”

Ingram said focusing on running plays correctly was a big issue at Monday’s practice.

CCHS is primarily a run team, but it does like to throw, Ingram said.

“They like to run it outside, so we need to contain that,” he said. “Offensively, we’ve got to sustain drives to eat up clock.”

What additionally made Monday’s practice so great was the players’ work ethic, Ingram said.

“They had a rough practice,” he said. “We condition during practice with drills and and ran a bunch them.

“The kids were encouraged,” he said. “They were giving everything they had. If they’ll take that attitude every day and into Friday nights, then we’ll win some football games.”

Kick off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday.