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Dec. 26—TRINITY — Coming into the 2024 season, West Morgan heard all the noise.
In 2023 the Rebels football team set a school record by going 12-1.
Then graduation hit the team hard. West Morgan lost 18 seniors from that squad, nine of whom signed to play college football, including Decatur Daily 2023 Players of the Year Jalen Fletcher and Shamarvion Mosley.
How could a 4A school lose that much talent and not take a step back?
“We had heard all the talk in Trinity,” senior Ty Jones said. “‘How were we going to overcome the loss of our star running back, star quarterback, star receiver and half our defense?'”
Through all the uncertainty, there was one thing that provided the Rebels with motivation.
On Aug. 17, The Decatur Daily published an article headlined, “New kids on the block: New West Morgan players ready to make headlines this fall.”
The preseason feature painted a positive picture about the Rebels’ hopes for the year, but the opening line — “West Morgan’s not supposed to be good this year.” — made its way to the bulletin board.
“When that came out, that opening line was posted everywhere, and that was all it took,” Jones said. “For like a month after that, the whole vibe in the locker room was, ‘Oh, they said we weren’t going to be good.'”
“I actually read the story, and so did some other people, so we knew it was positive,” Jones added with a laugh. “But we weren’t going to come out and say that.”
Coach Drew Phillips echoed that sentiment.
“I think you’re going to look back 30 years from now and remember the article,” Phillips said. “It was on Facebook, Twitter (now called X), Instagram. It was everywhere.”
It certainly did the trick. West Morgan topped its 2023 season, setting a new school record at 13-1 and reaching the semifinals for the second time in school history. The first was 1972.
For the Rebels, it…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/never-tell-them-odds-jones-133100603.html
Author : The Decatur Daily, Ala.
Publish date : 2024-12-26 13:31:00
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