What Football Means to Highlanders
As we kick off the start of the school year at The Woodlands High School, the young Highlanders who have the opportunity to call themselves athletes and the face of the school, kick off the start of the sports season. Being the last year for a few of the Newspaper staff members, our focus has shifted to not only sports statistics and updates, but also what the Highlander student body feels about one of the most exciting seasons of the school year! From students to the athletes and coaches themselves being mentioned, this multi-part article will help readers understand how important the Football season is for The Woodlands and the overall impact it has on Highlanders!

Zoha Pasta, Parker Stewart 0, Cole Miller 7, Caycen Bartolazzi 3, Drew Corley 14

Kicking off the Long-Awaited Season
With the most-dreaded goodbye directed to last season’s great players, The Woodlands High School students hold their head up as we kickstart the 2024 football season! With the Highlander’s attitude keeping the individuals involved in sports amazed, Woodlands has a great outlook for the upcoming season! Contrary to popular belief that the most grand players in the team are gone and therefore the Highlanders will not necessarily play as smoothly as last year, coaches in charge of the team enter the season with a positive, and confident attitude. In an interview with one of our most admired coaches, Coach Nash, we can delve into the positivity that we as highlanders are putting out and demonstrating the school spirit that can carry our team further than we think.

Interview With Coach Nash:
How do you think the season is going to go?
“We have a lot of young new guys that will have to fill in a few spots, and with their influence in their new roles, I feel like we have a good outlook for this season.”

What are your main goals for the team this year?
“We always want to win District, make it to the Playoffs, ultimately try to win the State Championship, we always just want to do the best that we can when it comes to the games.”

Can you highlight any key returning players, and what they bring to the team?
“Some of the defense returning players that are definitely highlighted include Darrel Harold, and Jy’Ree Jefferson. We also have some secondary players coming back, James Canteloupe, Caycen Bartolazzi, and Parker Stewart. These players definitely have a lot of experience, so they’re definitely gonna help the team out.”

How are you addressing areas where the team struggled last year?
“I can work with [defense players] and control what I can control to train the defense to get better, mainly working with defense helps other coaches focus on other parts of the team to work as a whole.”

How has the team prepared during the offseason?
“We go through the spring, our spring offseason, and then we have our spring practice which is pretty much like football season, we go through all of the same practices. Then we move on to our summer strengthening and conditioning for all the players. Finally, we start football practice around late July, and it’s continuous, it’s all the time now that we practice.”

How is the outlook for the season, how do you feel about it and how do you think the highlanders will perform?
“We have a chance to be pretty good this year! In terms of predicting records, us coaches don’t do that, but I have a feeling that due to our players and past experience, we can be good this year. We have made it to the playoffs about 29 years in a row. It’s been a couple years since we’ve won district championships, and we have never won state, we have been to state, but have never won it (2003 and 2016).”

Zoha Pasta, Woodforest Bank Stadium Student Section

After the team’s first couple of games, we are excited to start the season off with two wins and a positive attitude! Even though saying goodbye to old players and meeting new ones can be a difficult transition for highlanders, we continue to stay strong and united during this exciting time in the school year! Remember to check back into The Caledonian for further updates over the football season and our next story about the history and past outcomes of The Woodlands Highlanders.

GO HIGHLANDERS!!