By BRYANT VENOSDEL
Student Reporter
New turf, new helmets and even more important – a new head football coach for this upcoming Ranger Football season.
This year has been coined the “New Era”, and for those many good reasons.
Along with having new helmets with the design of two pistols on the side with the barrels overlapping and a masked Ranger on the back (the helmets even gaining major attention, as the official NCAA website did an article on them, claiming they were “bold”) and having “one of the best fields in the conference”, said Ty Hooper, a returning sophomore quarterback for the Rangers, this upcoming Ranger Football season is definitely one to look forward to.
As the Rangers went 3-7 last year, this season is going to be a fresh start. The Ranger Football is officially Division II, which head coach Matthew Walter said is going to be an advantage. “We’re sour on the past, and have high expectations.”
“The process to be successful however will not be easy,” Walter’s said. “There’s more behind the scene rules and there is limited contact for the student-athlete.”
Hooper agrees with the excitement of the new season. “We have new turf, and new facilities, we know our town will come out and support us.” It seems that the whole team is eager to be in a more successful place than last year, Hooper said. “All the players are excited to be at practice, and we’re all taking well to Coach Walter’s abilities to be successful, as he has been in the past.”
Even though this season is a “New Era”, one thing hasn’t changed Southwestern continues to be the Rangers biggest rivals and matchups. “Playing on a field of hatred,” is what coach Walter said.
Playing Southwestern for the last game of the regular season, the Rangers are looking to put the Bulldogs away again, as they won 28-6 last year.
Overall this season is one you can’t miss, and as Coach Walter said, “If you’re afraid to fail, you will not achieve anything.”
The Ranger Football season kicks off their season tonight on the road as they face the University of Arkansas at Monticello at 7 p.m.