TIGERS SHOW IMPROVEMENT: Straughn showed a lot of growth in 2018 season
Published 12:05 am Tuesday, November 6, 2018
- Adam Anderson grew into a starting quarterback this year, Straughn coach Jarrod Wooten said. Josh Dutton/Star-News
It wasn’t the season they wanted, but the Straughn Tigers fought through adversity this season to finish the year with a 2-8 record.
“I thought we had some games where we showed flashes of what we were capable of being,” Straughn coach Jarrod Wooten said. “Then there where other games where we showed our youth and inexperience. There was some things that came together, but this was a tough season to try and fight through both on and off the field.”
Despite finishing with a 2-8 record, Wooten said there were plenty of good things to take away from Tigers’ season.
“There is no doubt that these kids have a bright future,” Wooten said. “There were plenty of times this year where it would have been easier to just quit instead of keep coming to work, but these kids came to work every single day. Just watching the development of our sophomores and juniors was great. This group is going to have the chance to do something special if they stick together.”
Wooten said the Tigers have wasted little game getting ready for next season.
“We gave them one day off and now we are in our second week in the weight room,” Wooten said. “These kids are still working hard and they are going to have a lot of success.”
There is no telling what the Tigers can accomplish next season, Wooten said.
“This is a team that could accomplish some special things next year,” Wooten said. “Look at Headland. After winning one game last year, nobody gave them a chance to do anything this year and they almost went undefeated and they won their region outright. If we continue to improve, that could be something that we could accomplish.”
Wooten said the Tigers should return a lot of players next year.
“We only had six seniors and two of them didn’t get a lot of playing time,” Wooten said. “We should return a strong core group to next year’s team. We had a lot of guys that grew up this year. Adam Anderson really improved as our starting quarterback and he is set up to have a breakout season next year. Brantley Kelley was big for us on both sides of the ball, and I can only imagine what he could have done if we would have had him for three years.”