The football team will play its first district game against Coppell on Sept. 27 at Buddy Echols Field at 7:00 p.m. The Hawks finished their non-district season with a 2-1 record, after beating Lancaster 34-33 on Sept. 13.
“The non-district games are a big boost for us,” running back Antonio Dennis said. “They show us who we are and [that] we can hang with some of these better teams. We know what we can do; now, we get to show everyone what we’ve been working on.”
During the non-district season, the team played Dallas Jesuit, Southlake Carroll and Lancaster. The team won the first game against Jesuit 48-31, but lost the next game against Southlake 16-59.
“I think the kids took [the Southlake loss] hard because they had a good game [at] Jesuit and did all this hard work,” head coach John Towels said. “But, sometimes, there’s a reality check about where you are, where you’re going and where you want to be. Southlake is one of the top five teams in the state, and [we’re not] there yet.”
Last year, the team played Coppell and lost 0-49. This season, Coppell is undefeated in its non-district games and the No. 10 ranked team in the state. Hebron is ranked No. 43.
“Coppell is supposed to be the No. 1 team in the district,” Towels said. “They don’t think we’re any good. I just hope they go in and play like we’re no good and overlook us, so then we can beat them all one at a time.”
The Hawks have not made the playoffs since the 2021 season, where they finished third in the district. Last year, the team finished sixth in the district. This year, Dennis said the team’s biggest goal is to make the playoffs.
“None of the seniors have ever been,” Dennis said. “It’s something we’re all dying to do. We’re all hungry for it, so there’s a lot of determination to get there.”
Coppell was undefeated in district play and placed first in the district last year. The Hawks won three of their district games and lost four, finishing sixth in the district.
“We want to win now,” defensive lineman Daylon Owens said. “We want to win more often. I think previous teams didn’t want it bad enough, but losing is not an option [for us this year].”
Towels said the biggest challenge going into this game is getting the players to play their best the whole game. He said he doesn’t want them to just do well for part of the game, but to be consistent from beginning to end.
“I don’t have any goal but to win,” Towels said. “I don’t care if it’s by a little or by a lot, as long as we outplay them and win the game. I’ll take an ugly win any day, as long as we earn it.”
