READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

Clifton prepares for new district, return to the 3A, DII postseason as Bosque County high school football, volleyball and cross country began workouts for upcoming seasons Monday

After showing up in mass throughout the summer for weeks of strength and conditioning workouts, Bosque County schools began holding official practices for football, volleyball and cross country this week.

Football held its first day of conditioning with no contact activities permitted on Monday, with no contact equipment except helmets being worn. The first day of full contact can be held Aug. 10, two scrimmages can be held at least five days apart beginning Aug. 15, and the regular season will open Aug. 29.

Likewise, volleyball issued equipment and conducted workouts Monday as well with the first day for scrimmages Aug. 9 and regular season matches beginning Aug. 12.

After enjoying a banner 2023-24 year in sports across the Clifton High School athletic program, the Cubs hope to pick up right where they left off. And Clifton athletic director and football head coach Brent Finney expressed pride in the work the Cubs and Lady Cubs put in over the summer.

“We have been very pleased with our participation during the summer workouts,” Finney said. “The kids have really worked hard to get stronger this summer while improving their conditioning.”

After losing a significant number of lettermen and starters with last season’s large senior class, the Cubs will be looking for replacements at several positions this season. But with last year’s talented juniors moving to the head of the class and a strong sophomore class coming up behind them, Finney likes what he will have to work with this season.

“We will definitely have quite a few holes to fill from graduation, but we are very excited about these guys,” Finney said. “We will be very young and inexperienced, but this group is very coachable and very competitive and you can build on that.”

After already experiencing significant change during each UIL realignment over the last 10 years, the 2024 Cubs will not have a single familiar football opponent in district for the first time since 2017. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picked Clifton to earn their third straight trip to the playoffs by finishing fourth in District 5-3A, DII behind 11th-ranked Tolar, Eastland and Early, while placing ahead of Brady and Dublin rounding it out.

After scrimmages against Class 3A, DI West on Aug. 16 followed by a scrimmage against Class 3A, DI’s 17th-ranked Whitney on Aug. 22, Clifton will open the season with a non-district game at home against Riesel Aug. 30

“We have a very challenging non district schedule and two very tough scrimmages, so we will find out a lot about these young guys pretty quickly,” Finney said. “But our expectations never change. The standard is the standard and we expect to be a playoff team every season and be challenging for district and playoff championships.”

Going into workouts on Aug. 5 in preparation for the upcoming season, the Cub coaching staff will focus on assessing personnel in search for starters on both sides of the ball. Offensively, Clifton will have six returning starters with only four starters returning on defense.

“We have a pretty good group of returning offensive linemen, and it is always huge to have your starting quarterback returning,” Finney said. “However, we graduated a lot of our skill positions, so we will be looking for players to step up and replace that production.

“Defensively, we also have a pretty solid group of returning linemen, but we will have to develop some depth at linebacker and secondary. There will be a lot of different guys getting a lot of reps early, and we will see who can fill those positions. That is the great thing about athletics, going out there and working hard and competing.”