Florala came up just shy of making the playoffs, but first-year head coach Scott Mason was pleased with the growth his young Wildcats showed in 2017.

“I was greatly surprised in some areas,” Mason said. “Truthfully, we are a lot further along that I thought we would be. There were a lot of times that we looked young and inexperienced, but what a bright future we have.”

This season, Mason said they relied heavily on underclassmen in key positions.

“When you have some many freshmen and sophomores starting in skill positions, that’s a big thing,” Mason said. “We looked like babies in some aspects, but we could be scary good, skills wise, before it’s all over. We ”

Mason said that all though the Wildcats missed the postseason, that exceeded some of their preseason goals.

“Realistically, our goal was two wins,” Mason. “We finished with three wins and were able to beat a couple of bigger teams that probably should have beat us. There we some other games that we came close in and we were able to score on every one. A lot of the teams we played are bigger than us, but we are going to catch up We didn’t catch a lot of breaks this year, but good teams create their own luck. We weren’t able to do that this year, but we are going to get there.”

Part of the catch up process will be having a productive offseason.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished this season and what we can accomplish in the future,” Mason said. “That’s all going to start with a lot of hard work this offseason. We need to have a tremendous offseason, and it started today (Monday).”

Mason said that he is excited about the future of the program and for the support that the community has shown the Wildcats.

“I’m real thankful that the community supported this team how they have,” Mason said. “I really think we opened some eyes this year and we are ready to do it again. A year is going to be big for these kids. We have a little chip on our shoulders and we are going to use that as motivation for the offseason.”