WATERFORD - The Waterford High football team has a new head coach in Tom Tucker, and Tucker began official practices with his team on Monday.
On a hot, humid night in Waterford, the Wildcats took to the practice field to begin preparing for the upcoming season on the gridiron.
Tucker is happy with how the team has looked.
"We're keeping most of the same stuff from last year in tact," Tucker said. "We have a little bit of new terminology for some things, which we have been working on. I think we're looking okay."
The Wildcats have gone 6-4 each of the past two seasons.
A member of the Tri-Valley Conference Tucker believes his team can do well by executing the fundamentals.
"We've been working on our base set of plays, and going from there," Tucker said. "I'm a believer in that you have to do the little stuff to be successful. We've told the players that doing the little things can mean the difference between losing close ball games and winning them."
Tucker has coached at Waterford his whole life, and even played there in high school.
The summer heat has been something that teams throughout the area have been trying to adjust to, and Waterford is no different.
"(Wednesday) was our first day with shoulder pads," Tucker said. "It hasn't been too bad. We try to give them plenty of breaks. We don't take any chances. If something happened, you'd never forget it."
The Wildcats lost three All-TVC selections to graduation in quarterback Trevor Lang and linemen Tyler Pyatt and Kendrick Schwendeman.
Brian Moore was also am All-TVC selection as a receiver in 2011. This year,
Tucker expects Moore to be the Wildcats' starting quarterback, his first year at the position.
As far as progression in practice, Tucker said the big guys up front have stood out.
"We really like our line," Tucker said. "I think we're a pretty well-balanced team.
We've got some good skill people back. It will be interesting."
Tucker is also impressed with the way the younger kids have adapted to the high school level.
"Our junior high coaches do a real good job," Tucker said. "They use the same formations that we do, so most of the younger kids already know it. It's nice because we don't have to worry about teaching as much."
The Wildcats expect to have 28 kids on the roster this season.
The team will have a scrimmage next Wednesday against River at home. The first game for Tucker's team will be Aug. 24 on the road against Miller.
