HAWKS REACH MIDPOINT OF PRESEASON FOOTBALL PRACTICE

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon football team returned to a more normal routine on Wednesday for the Hawks' seventh day of practice.

A day after an extended 11-on-11 practice on Tuesday and the first two-a-day session of the preseason, the Hawks returned to W. James Samford Stadium for a single practice. The Hawks have seven more days of preseason work. A scrimmage on Aug. 24 will mark the end of preseason.

"We got back to the routine today," Huntingdon head coach Mike Turk said. "We're working hard and getting better. We have some young guys stepping up at a lot of positions. We just have to keep grinding it out. That's what this time of year is all about.

"Hopefully we learned a lot from the film of Tuesday's (11-on-11 work). My biggest disappointment was the level of competition just wasn't that high during Tuesday's scrimmage. We have to learn to be more competitive in those situations. Hopefully we learned from that and we won't let it happen again."

Turk said the coaching staff is incorporating a win-lose situation into each practice to help develop the competitive edge.

"Hopefully that will get us across the bridge to a little more competitiveness," Turk said. "We ended today's practice with a competitive goal line period. We put the ball on the 7-yard line and gave the offense four downs to score a touchdown to win or the defense four downs to stop them. The offense got it in."

 Defensively, Turk remains impressed with the performance of his linemen. Turk said junior Courtney Moss has been impressive with the first team.

"Courtney is a guy we moved from tailback to defensive end," Turk said. "He is playing well. He's been very disruptive to our offensive schemes. He's a quiet guy and he hasn't really been that vocal, but he can play. You need vocal guys and you also need guys that are just getting it done. So far he has been getting it done."

The Hawks will hold their second two-a-day session on Thursday. Practices are set for 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and are open to the public.