Getting ready for the fall season

Fort Nugent Park may not resemble the Seattle Seahawks’ new practice facility in Renton but for members of the Oak Harbor Youth Football League, the afternoon workouts are sometimes just as intense.

August 8, 2008 10:33 pm
The facial intensity is apparent as members of the Oak Harbor Youth Football League Midgets work out on the line sled at Fort Nugent Park as the coaching staff stresses remembering to keep their heads up and never let their feet stop moving.
The facial intensity is apparent as members of the Oak Harbor Youth Football League Midgets work out on the line sled at Fort Nugent Park as the coaching staff stresses remembering to keep their heads up and never let their feet stop moving.

Fort Nugent Park may not resemble the Seattle Seahawks’ new practice facility in Renton but for members of the Oak Harbor Youth Football League, the afternoon workouts are sometimes just as intense.

Now that the draft process has been completed, the teams formed and the gear handed out, things are starting to get serious on the fields at Fort Nugent as players prepare for the season opening games slated to begin later this month.

A large crowd of parents were present Wednesday evening as the Cougars and Panthers got down to business, doing away with the sometimes mundane drudgery of daily drills, running the hills, and working on blocking and form tackling.

It was scrimmage time for both teams who play in the OHYFL 9- and-10-year-old Midget Division. From the looks on some of the players’ faces, you might have thought they were stepping onto the turf at Qwest Field in front of 60,000 fans.

None of the players were in talkative moods, instead they were totally focused on the job at hand — heading out on to the field and going head-to-head with the opposition.

Youth football is only the beginning of what promises to be a big fall season for players and fans on Whidbey Island.

At Oak Harbor and Coupeville High Schools, players have been in the weight rooms at both schools since early June getting their young bodies ready to hit the grid iron.

High school football practice gets under way at Oak Harbor and Coupeville Wednesday, Aug. 20 with two-a-day drills in preparation for the first games of the 2008 season.

The games begin Friday, Sept. 5, with the Wildcats hosting former WesCo North opponent Cascade in a non-league game and the Wolves traveling to Port Townsend to square off against the Redskins, also in a non-league matchup.