The North Union football team has put in the long summer days all in anticipation to getting to Week 1 of the new season.
This year’s opening game is against a familiar foe.
The Cats will be reigniting their long-standing rivalry against neighboring Pleasant High School.
North Union hasn’t played the Spartans in football in three years and with the return of full-capacity crowds, NU head Nick Hajjar believes the atmosphere is going to be electric on Friday.
“The kids are super excited,” Hajjar said. “Both communities are excited.
“We didn’t have fans last year and now we are going back to a rivalry that hasn’t happened in a while.
“Fans are allowed back in, bands can travel on the road and it is just going to be an atmosphere that I am excited for,” he said. “This is what high school football is all about.”
The real question to Friday’s game is going to be what the Spartans are going to bring to the field.
With a new coach at the helm and several years since the Cats have played them, Hajjar isn’t sure what they look like at this point.
“A lot of the names they have over there on the team have changed,” he said. “So we’re trying to relearn their personnel and what their staff is about, what they believe in in terms of schemes.
“That is going to be one of the biggest challenges within the game as we move forward.”
Hajjar is having his team focus on what they do know.. which is themselves.
The Wildcats will bring their Wing T offense to the field, led by a to-be-determined quarterback.
Currently, there is an internal battle for the position between transfer student-athlete Cayden Lassiter and Ricky Weigand.
It will be the running game, however, that sparks the Wildcats.
The ground attack will be led by junior running back Owen Davis.
Hajjar, though, said his team is going to use the play action passing attack to trip up the opposing defense.
Regardless of who is on the field, Hajjar wants his team to appreciate the opportunity.
“I hope to see a team that is just excited to compete,” he said. “We take it for granted sometimes and last year we saw how fast it can be taken away.
“If we take advantage of the opportunity, we have the chance to be part of something special with a return to high school football at a rival game on the road.”
Hajjar also will be using the Wildcats’ experience from last year as a lesson moving forward.
The Cats made it to the regional semifinals last year. Hajjar believes that created a hunger in his players and they know what it will take to get there.
“I think learning from our experience last year, every play demands urgency to be at a high level,” he said, “I think we all learned that collectively and we are trying to carry that on even in our practice habits. We want to create urgency with everything we do.”
The Wildcats will play at Pleasant with a 7 p.m. scheduled kick-off.