Continuing our Panther tradition, our 2022 Panther football campaign started with our first official practice starting very early Monday morning August 15th, Gold Beach Panthers Varsity Head Football Coach Chris Higgins told the Compass, after a late Sunday parent and player BBQ where parents brought pot luck style dishes and kids played cornhole and games on the field. At 11:00pm the team went to the locker room, got their gear and everyone was back on the field at midnight for the start of practice, and just like that, our 2022/2023 season started at 12:01am Monday morning, August 15th.
Last year ended with a tough loss for us in the first round of the playoffs, a game we feel we could have and should have won, but our lack of experience stood out in the playoff game. We’re a year older and a year tougher going into this season after only losing one starter from last year.
My staff and I saw many positives from the team after seeing our first field action last week at the Rogue River Jamboree at Rogue River High School where we played well and came together as team.
This team is very light-hearted in the locker room, and sometimes the fun and jokes leak out to the field, and although it can be frustrating at times, we know this group of kids will show up and be ready to play come Friday nights. We are confident that this tight knit group of young men bring their strengths together and they will go to bat for each other on each and every play.
We know that many those teams we saw at the Jamboree, will bring their A game against us this fall. However, we believe our unselfish play as a team will carry over to great things as we work to surpass the first round of the playoffs, and create the opportunity to compete for a State title in the next year or two for our school, our fans and our community. I know that is every teams goal, but if we stay healthy, I believe that can be a real possibility for the Gold Beach Panthers.
We look forward to seeing a full stadium again Friday nights, and we hope to hear all of you push us to the post season starting this Saturday afternoon at 1:00pm against Blanchet Catholic.
Gold Beach Panthers Varsity Head Football Coach – Chris Higgins
